Came with the Wind
by CJS-DEPPendent
Summary: Gil Grissom is finally leading the perfect life with the love of his life and their two children. Little does he know how much an 18 year old Med Student will impact his life. GSR, Please Read and Review, enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

_**Came with the Wind**_

_**Disclaimer: **__I don not won CBS, CSI or any of its characters...if I did, there's NO WAY Jorja Fox would be leaving! (on that note, KEEP JORJA FOX ON CSI!!) _

_**A/N:**__ Just wanted to point out that this story doesn't fit into any particular time frame, and that some parts may be slightly OOC._

_I'd also like to tell you that I'm always open to __**constructive criticism**__, if you're only reviewing to flame, don't bother…_

_Enjoy, and __**Please Review!**_

* * *

"Charlie! You're going to be late for school!" yelled Sara as she grabbed her car keys and joined her husband at the front door.

"Coming!" shouted back the little girl.

Sighing, Sara checked her watch again. Next to her, Gil Grissom was busy tying their son's shoe-lace while the boy held a model of a colourful exotic bug in one hand and a car in the other; he was obviously torn between his father's geeky interests and what everyone else liked.

Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom had gotten married secretly 8 years previously and only admitted to their relationship a year later when Sara announced that she was expecting their first child. When on a cold (-ish) night, Charlotte Grissom was born, Grissom knew that he'd found his place in the world; nothing he'd ever done felt as gratifying as holding his baby daughter in his arms while watching the love of his life sleep. Three years later, already well trained parents, Grissom and Sara had welcomed Colin Aaron Grissom to the family. Now, 4 years later, they were as happy as could be; everything was perfect.

"Charlotte!" yelled her father as he began to open the door.

"I'm coming!" she shouted running down the stairs in a navy blue skirt, Looney-Toons' t-shirt, pony tails and red converse all-stars.

* * *

Once the kids were dropped off at school, Grissom dropped Sara off at the lab and drove off to UNLV where he was going to be lecturing on Forensic pathology for two days.

To his great surprise, the room filled up within the first 10 minutes and he actually had people stranding at the back just to be able to listen to him.

"…and that is all for today" he concluded after an hour and a half of speaking and 15 minutes of questions. Slowly and talking excitedly between themselves, the students began to file out and Grissom began to pack up.

"Excuse me, Dr Grissom" said a freshman boy approaching the podium.

"Yea" said Grissom looking up. In the many lectures he'd given over the years, only a handful of people had ever come up to talk to him afterwards, the first being Sara.

"Hi, my name is Robert Cooper, I had a few questions that I didn't get time to ask"

Suddenly, Grissom recognised the boy, he'd asked several questions during the question part of the lecture and frankly, he was surprised by the boy's intelligence.

"Sure, fire away"

After a while, of talking, the two were surprised to find that 15 minutes had passed.

"Wow, it's getting late, I should probably let you leave. I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time, sir."

Smiling, Grissom replied "it's no problem; I actually have the day off work, so I really have nothing better to do than answer your questions, which, by the way, are quite interesting."

"Thank you, I'd love to continue this, but I have a class to go to."

"Well, if you're free after class, you could join me for a cup of coffee in the cafeteria, I can wait" suggested Grissom picking up his folder and walking with the young man to the door.

"Sure, I'd like that. Thank you Dr"

* * *

That night at home, Grissom told Sara about the lecture and the intriguing boy whom he'd had coffee with.

"He was surprisingly intelligent and knew a astonishing amount of things about Forensic Pathology for a first year medical student. He actually came to talk to me after the lecture."

"I thought only I got to do that…" said Sara smirking as she put food on her son's plate.

Smiling back, Grissom continued to praise Robbie as his kids fought over which movie to watch before going to bed; the final verdict was 'A Bug's Life' – it always was.

* * *

On the second and final day of lecturing at UNLV, Grissom was again surprised by the Robert's attention and elaborate questions. Once everything was over, Grissom wrote his number down for the student and told him to call if he ever had any more questions.

Two weeks later, he did call; from the station.

"Jim! What's going on?" asked Grissom walking into the station where a group of 4 boys, amongst whom was Robbie, were being guarded by the same number of large cops.

"Rape case, the girl survived and named her attackers. We have them in custody now; you should be working the case…"

"I was about to start when I got a call…" turning to Robbie he spoke "…what happened?"

"I…um…can I speak to you?" asked the boy trying to tug away from his cop.

Nodding, Grissom told the guard who's name tag read 'Stevens' and led the still hand-cuffed boy into an interrogation room.

* * *

"Care to explain this?" asked Grissom sounding disappointed.

"I didn't do anything I swear! I called you because I figured you'd be able to get me off"

"Robbie, after everything I told you, you should know only the evidence can get you off…and I promise I'll find the truth, no matter what it is."

Sighing, Robbie sat in one of the chairs "I don't even know what happened. One minute we're all having a great time, the next this girl is screaming that she was raped and when the cops got there, they booked us all."

Sighing almost as heavily as the boy had, Grissom too took a seat in front of him "tell me the truth, no elaborations, just the truth" he said.

* * *

"Well?" asked Brass as Grissom left the room behind Robbie who was immediately led to the holding cell.

"I don't know, Jim. I'm inclined to believe him, the kid has a perfect track record…then again, I know he knows how to cover this up…he's very smart. I'm going to head back to the lab, see what the guys found at the scene, I'll call you when I'm done."

As the Supervisor walked off, Brass called "you sure you want to work this case, you like the boy, you're biased"

Spinning on his heals, Grissom spoke calmly but Brass knew he'd struck a nerve "I wouldn't be biased even if _you_ were the suspect, Jim" shaking his head in a manner that seemed to say 'you should know me better than that', Grissom walked off.

* * *

"Hey" greeted Sara as Grissom entered the lab holding a file

"Hi…" he said walking up to the computer she was sitting at.

Knowing what was troubling her husband, Sara spun round on the chair to face him and spoke "it's 'your' Robbie, isn't it?" she asked as he nodded.

"I don't know weather to believe him or not…"

"Honey," she soothed "follow the evidence that's what you've always told me to do"

Nodding, Grissom turned to the computer as Sara stood and left the room to go get something to eat. On the screen, Grissom saw that Sara already had all the DNA samples from the boys running through CODIS, probably checking if any of them had priors until DNA from the SAE kit arrived for comparison.

Figuring it would take a while, Grissom left the computer to do it's searching while he joined his beloved wife in the break room.

An hour later, after checking the computer with Sara several times, Grissom handed her the car keys so she could go and pick their kids up while he rested his eyes in his office.

_Beep, beep, beep._

Grissom was awoken by the irritating sound of his pager going off. It was a 911 from Mia from DNA; the results were up and she'd gotten a hit.

"Hit?" he asked upon entering the lab and was met by Mia's serious face "what is it?" he asked.

"Um…on that rape case, Sara ran the DNA to find priors…"

Nodding, Grissom tried to move things along "yes, I know…"

Mia interrupted him "CODIS got a hit…um…" she decided it would be easier to show him and simply moved out of the way so he could look at the screen.

It took several seconds for the information on the screen to make its way fully into Grissom's brain.

"Grissom?" asked Mia tentatively.

"Er…"

There, on the screen were two pictures, one on each side with large green letters blinking in the middle: 'Match Found'.

_Match Found_ he thought trying to make sense of the information _Match Found between a CSI and one of the suspects…not just any CSI _he thought_ ME! And…Robbie?!_

"Grissom!?" Mia tried again "Gil!" she shouted on the third try effectively making him jump.

"Oh…um…" he looked back at the screen "there must be some kind of mistake…"

Shaking her head, Mia said "No…I checked…7 allies in common…that means Father, Brother or…"

Grissom interrupted her "…son"

Without another word, Grissom left the DNA lab and headed for his office; a dark, silent room was what he needed right now…that and to make sense of this sudden turn of events.

_**TBC**_

_Thanks for reading, chapter two will be up as soon as I get some reviews…yes, that was a hint…press the pretty review button…you know you want to…_


	2. Chapter 2

Though he managed to get two hours of uninterrupted thinking before Brass called him down to PD to interrogate the boys again, Grissom was still confused about the situation.

_Is Robbie _really_ my son?_ Was the first question of the many Grissom tackled in those two hours of loneliness. _Of course he is _he thought _DNA tests don't lie, and they were checked three times. There's no way they're wrong. _That dealt with, Grissom was plagued by many other questions. Questions to which he had no answer. _Who is his mother? Why didn't I know about him? Does he know who I am? What am I going to do? What am I going to tell Sara? What if he is guilty? Should I withdraw myself from the case? Should I tell him?_

"Ugh…" he grunted as he got up from the couch and his head spun from the quick rush of blood to his brain.

_Beep beep beep_

Apparently Brass wasn't in the mood for waiting. Standing up, Grissom picked up his coat and walked out of the lab towards his car.

* * *

"what took you?" asked the detective when Grissom finally arrived.

"Um…sorry, I was busy"

"Fine, look, the lab sent over the DNA results. We know what happened, but we still want to know if any of the other guys were in on things."

Nodding, Grissom, like he'd done so many times before, shoved all personal feelings aside and fell into 'work mode' "You want to interrogate them all, find out if we have any accessories?"

Smiling at his friend's quick thinking, Brass nodded and they walked into the interrogation room to interrogate the first of their four suspects: James Fawler.

* * *

James Fawler was 19 year old Law Student at UNLV who had moved to Vegas from New York with Robbie. The edge-looking boy adamantly stated his innocence and accurately described all the events that the CSI's had been able to reconstruct in their meticulous timeline. After an hour, he was set free.

The next boy to be interrogated was Brian McKinney, an 18 year old med student who was Robbie's room mate. Brian had been one of the main suspects out of all the four boys who were booked. When identifying her attacker, the girl stated that it was definitely one of them four and that it was most likely one of the tallest ones: Brian and his friend Matt Evens. Like James, Brian strongly claimed his innocence and, like the previous boy was set free after it was proven that he had nothing to do with the whole affair.

Then came Robbie Cooper's turn.

Robbie had been sitting the room with a silent guard for five minutes before the homicide Detective, Jim Brass and the CSI supervisor Gil Grissom arrived. Seeing the boy with the knowledge he'd attained in the last few hours still haunting his thoughts was terrifying Grissom. _That's my son!_ He kept thinking. And, true enough, looking at him now, things became clear; blue eyes, tan skin, strange interests in forensics and an A grade student, Robbie was exactly what Grissom had been at his age, only he had decent people skills.

"Robbie, you know Gil grissom" said Brass in lieu of introducing them.

Nodding, Robbie waited for one of the two men to speak.

"Tell us what happened again, Robbie" said Brass taking a seat in front of the boy while Grissom leaned against the one-way mirror.

"Well, we were at these girl's place for a party and some guys brought in a keg and everyone started getting, well, happy to say the least…"

"Did you drink?" asked Brass interrupting the boy.

"No. Anyway, after the second beer, the guys who aren't used to drinking accepted some weed from this guy, Taylor I think, and hooked up with some girls"

"Did you see who these girls were?" asked Brass taking notes.

Shaking his head, Robbie continued "no, I only know they were both blond, though one had darker hair than the other… after the party started to die down and we fell asleep. We, at least I, only woke up this morning with this girl screaming that she'd been raped. But I swear I don't' know anything about that!" he said looking at Grissom who was staying as inconspicuous and silent as possible.

"Listen, Robbie, I'm not going to lie, the evidence has been looking very bad for you and your friends, we were prepared to arrest you all for obstruction of justice and being accessories to rape…but now, we know it wasn't you, so you can go."

Strangely Robbie didn't' move, instead he asked "what _did_ happen?"

Brass looked at Grissom who was apparently thinking the same thing as him; should they tell the boy?

"Well…hem…" said Grissom clearing his throat but not looking directly at his son "the girl, Miss. Joan Kitts's boyfriend apparently found her in bed with one of your friends…unfortunately, he recognised him as what he referred to as 'that rich brat'…"

"Evens…" said Robbie understanding what was going on.

"His girlfriend confessed to the rest when we threatened to throw her pretty little ass in jail" said Brass placing his note book in his pocket

"She said that her boyfriend made her say your friend raped her so they could get settlement money…however, he didn't know that it was easy enough tot ell if she was or wasn't raped" finished Grissom.

"Good, so you guys have Taylor in jail and we can all go free…" said Robbie and looked confused when Grissom shook his head.

"I'm afraid, when he heard that his girlfriend was being interrogated, Mr. Taylor skipped town…"

"So you don't know where he is?"

Brass shook his head "no…but we'll find him"

This time, it was Robbie who shook his head "No…you don'0t understand, Bo is violent. Chris isn't safe while he's free…"

"Robbie, we'll get them…" said Grissom and somehow it felt like when he was comforting his four year old, Colin.

"I…"

But now Brass' patience seemed to have run out "look, we'll speak to Mr. Evens and if he feels his life is in danger, we'll make arrangements for protection, you're free to go."

Sighing heavily, Robbie nodded his goodbye to each man and left.

Once the boy was gone, the two law-enforcers moved on to the next room where Christopher Evens was awaiting.

"Hi, Chris" said Brass.

"I didn't do it. You've got the evidence, don't you, it wasn't me!"

Feeling it was safe to talk again, Grissom spoke "No, Chris. You didn't rape her…"

"That doesn't change the fact that you didn't tell us you slept with her" added Brass as Grissom handed the boy some sheets of paper.

"See," continued Grissom "your semen was the only one found in Miss. Kits' SAE kit which means you were the only guy to have intercourse of any kind with her that night. However, the doctors who inspected her found no signs of sexual assault whatsoever. Which leads me to another critical question: Why would he want to say you raped her?"

Sighing, Chris shrugged.

"Here's what I think happened" said Brass handing the boy a photo of Bo Taylor "This guy also known as Bo Taylor found out you were doing his girl,." This bit of information received some level of surprised acknowledgement from the suspect "now I'll bet he wasn't too happy about that. HE also happened to know your daddy's loaded, so he tries to frame you. Seems like a plausible story to me."

"To me too" said the boy agreeing "so, you're going to arrest him right?" he asked looking slightly nervous.

"No, we're looking for him. Mr. Evens, do you feel your life is at risk while Mr.Taylor is on the loose?" asked Brass.

Slowly the boy nodded.

"Alright, I'll have officer Jones here," he motioned to the guard who was standing by the door "accompany you home and I'll have patrol cars circle the area"

Once the boy walked out followed by his new shadow, Grissom and Brass each left for their car, Grissom knowing that when he got home, he'd have to have a very serious conversation with his wife.

* * *

However, as the two men reached their cars, there was a sudden screech of tyres and cries of "Holly Shit!" and "Take cover!" before the night was torn with the sound of gunfire.

As suddenly as it had started, the gunfire ended and the car drove off as police sirens began wailing. Standing up from the place where he'd taken cover, Grissom started running to the place were several people were fallen.

When he got there, his heart seemed to stop. _Drive by_ he thought as he took in the number of injured people. There were two women he didn't recognize sitting against a fence bleeding, and unconscious cop he recognised as Jones, a young boy lying next to him bleeding from the leg and, what struck Grissom the most, four late teenage boys fallen on the street, some unconscious, others wincing in pain and trying to crawl back to the pavement.

"Robbie!" shouted Grissom as he spotted his son lying on the floor.

Nothing.

_He's dead. Please don't be dead. You can't be dead._ Were the thoughts going through Grissom's mind in a sort of chant as he knelt next to the boy.

"Someone call 911!" shouted Brass making several bewildered cops jump and grab their cell phones.

Within 5 minutes, 8 ambulances had arrived, and the injured were transported to desert palms.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_You know the drill…I'll update when I get reviews…so, what are you waiting for? Press the pretty REVIEW button…you know you want to…pretty please?_


	3. Chapter 3

"Sara" said Grissom when she finally picked up the phone.

"_Gil, where are you?"_

"Look, there was a shooting down at PD, I'm on my way to Desert Palms"

"_Oh my God! Are you ok?!"_

"Yea, don't worry I'm fine, but there were eight injured people and, um, Robbie is one of them"

"_Oh, ok. Don't worry about us, I'll tell the kids you had some more work to do. Bye, call me when you leave"_

"Thanks, Honey. Bye"

* * *

"Hi, my name is Gil Grissom, I'm with the LVPD crime lab" said Grissom flashing his ID card at the desk clerk at the Desert Palms ER "where can I find Robert Cooper? He was brought in about twenty minutes ago from the PD shooting"

"Oh, um…he was taken into surgery on arrival, the university and his family have been notified. If you'd like to wait, the waiting room is just through there" she said pointing at a door behind Grissom.

"Thanks, I think I'll just go wait outside"

As time passed, Grissom kept re-playing everything in his head. Robbie was his son. Robbie was his son and was in surgery. Robbie might die without ever knowing who he really was.

"Gil!" called Brass sticking his head out of the double doors of the ER to spot Grissom who was sitting on a bench leaning his head against the wall.

"Yea?" he replied sleepily; it had been 4 hours since they'd arrived and so far, three people were dead (James Fawler, the cop Samuel Jones and an innocent bystander, Mrs. Jackson).

"Robbie's out of surgery. The doctor wants to talk to someone…"

"Oh, yea…sure" said Gil standing up and accompanying his friend inside.

* * *

"Hi, Gil Grissom, Crime lab" greeted Grissom shaking the 40 something year old doctor's hand.

Returning the gesture. The man replied "Dr. Dean Colt. I just operated on Robert Cooper, I understand his mother has not yet arrived."

"She's landing in three or four hours…" said Brass as he walked away to answer his ringing phone.

"Very well, should I wait for her, or…"

"Um, no, tell me…" said Grissom

"Ok, Robert Suffered two gun shot wounds to the abdomen. One bullet, luckily missed all organs and was easy to remove, the other, however, hit a kidney and we had to remove it. We expect him to make a full recovery but it will be a tough one. He's young, so there shouldn't be any complications, we're keeping him in the ICU for the first two to three days, then he'll be moved to his own room."

"Alright, when can he receive visitors?" asked Grissom trying to sound more like a professional doing his job than a man preoccupied with his son's health.

"He'll only wake from surgery in one or two hours, after that, he'll be a bit groggy but you'll be able to talk to him" said the doctor smiling.

"Thank you." Said Grissom as the man walked away.

* * *

Two hours later, Robbie woke up and Grissom as allowed to see him, though the boy was awake, he was being kept on a ventilator and restraints until they were sure the anaesthesia had completely worn off.

"Hi Robbie" said Grissom approaching the bed where the scared looking young man was struggling to free himself from the restraints holding him to the bed.

"Robbie, don't try to speak. Blink once for 'yes' and twice for 'no', Ok?"

One blink.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Two blinks.

"Do you remember leaving the station?"

One blink.

"Do you remember tyres screeching?"

Instead of blinking, Robbie just frowned and looked at his hand where he'd formed a gun and was gesturing shooting.

"You remember the shooting?" asked Grissom.

One blink.

"Is that the last thing you remember? The noise of gun fire?"

One blink.

"That's ok, you'll be fine…" Grissom was interrupted by the boy fighting off his restraints again.

"Nurse?" called Grissom "could we remove these restraints?"

"They're for his own protection. We don't ant him getting scared and pulling tubes out…" explained the friendly looking nurse.

"Robbie, do you promise not to freak out?" Grissom asked the boy.

One blink.

"Please?" asked Grissom.

Sighing, resigned at both men's pleading blue eyes, the nurse obliged and within less than a minute, Robbie had the full us of his hands again.

This was when things got interesting: as Grissom looked around to find a pen and paper, he was surprised to see Robbie signing at him.

_It's ok, I don't need paper_

After a few moments of shocked staring, grissom sighed back.

_How do you know how to sign? Do you have hearing problems?_ He asked worried that his son was suffering from his genetic deficiency.

Robbie shook his head. _No; I learnt to sign because I volunteered at a school for deaf children back in New York._

_Oh. How did you know I could sign? _Asked Grissom

_I read about a case you handled several years ago where a deaf boy got beaten up…_

_Oh…_

_Where's my mom?_

_She's on her way…what about your dad?_

_Dad?_ Grissom was sure that if the boy could have, he would have laughed _my 'dad' walked out on us when I was three…but hey, I don't believe that he was actually my dad, so…_

_Really? How come? _Asked Grissom

_My mom always mentions my dad as a cool, intelligent guy. That is NOT Carl Cooper. Anyway, I don't need a father. _Deciding to change the subject, Robbie continued _how come you know how to sign?_

Smiling, grissom began to explain how his mother had lost her hearing years ago and hoe he'd learnt to sign to be able to communicate with her. He even told him how he'd been close to loosing his hearing.

By the time the silent conversation was over, it was 7 am and the nurse came in to inform them that a Mrs. Cooper was there to see Robbie. So, Grissom bid the boy goodbye and left.

It was only as he walked out of the ICU that it hit him: Robbie's _mom_. Through all the time he'd spent thinking, Grissom couldn't remember any woman he'd dated whose surname was Cooper. He'd thought about asking Robbie but then he'd thought that would be a weird question, but now, she' was going to walk in here and he'd get to see her.

As Grissom thought this, a tall brunette with dark brown eyes walked into the ICU and stopped in her tracks when here eyes met his. _Vivian!_ thought Grissom.

Though they were only there for a matter of seconds, they both got pretty good ideas of what the other was thinking. Grissom was sure Vivian had never thought she'd see him again, and her surprise was almost tangible. Vivian on the other hand, knew that look. Though she hadn't seen Gil Grissom in almost 19 years, she still knew that look, the one that held all of surprise, disappointment, hurt, anger and curiosity.

Knowing that Robbie was watching, they moved on in their directions as quickly as possible but not before silently agreeing that this wasn't just going to be forgotten.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Ok…onto chapter 4 then…_

_Oh, yea…PLEASE REVIEW…Don't make me beg…because I will…_

_Pretty Please? Please, please, please, please, please (that would be me begging…take pitty on me…press the REVIEW button…)_


	4. Chapter 4




	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N:**__ This is the chapter where we understand why I picked this name for the story (in case you were wondering)_The next morning, Sara awoke to an empty bed. Getting up slowly, she walked out of the dimly lit room to find her husband sitting alone in the still silent, dark living room.

* * *

"Honey?" she asked worried that Robbie had gotten worse "Is everything ok?"

Looking up at her, Grissom smiled and nodded "He'll be fine."

"So, why are you looking so down?" she asked taking a seat next to him.

"Well, Vivian called to tell me that she's taking Robbie back to New York with her. And I don't know what I should do. I mean, I could tell him and ask him to chose where he wants to stay, I really do want to get to know him. On the other hand, if I don't tell him, he won't hate me for not being there."

Placing a hand on her troubled man's shoulder, Sara spoke "Look, I think you should do what you think is best for Robbie. Not you, nor Vivian. Think of him. Would he like to know?"

Grissom thought about it for a while, when he didn't speak, Sara did "Look, Gil, the boy adores you, he called _you_ when he was in trouble. I think, and I'm not telling you this is what you should do, but I think you should tell him. Even if he then hates you, I think he has a right to know."

Taking a deep breath, Grissom nodded and smiled at her "you're right. What would I do without you?"

"I've no idea" she said into his shoulder as he hugged her.

"Mom!" came a shout from upstairs.

"And, we're off" said Sara smiling as the typical weekend morning routine began.

It always happened in the same way, Charlie would call for one of them to go turn on the lights, then, as they passed by their son's room, he'd call for them and, to avoid a major conflict, they'd have to divide and conquer: Grissom would normally take their son and Sara their daughter and they'd meet again in the dining room for breakfast before the kids settled in front of the TV.

"Daddy?" asked Colin as Grissom opened the door to his room

"Yea, kid?" he replied opening the blinds.

"Can we go to the zoo today? I want to go see the bugs again…"

Smiling, Grissom was sorry to have to disappoint his son "I'm sorry, kiddo, but I have some stuff I have to take care of today. But I promise we'll go next weekend, ok?"

Smiling but looking slightly disappointed, Colin nodded and Grissom picked him up and transported the now giggling boy by the arms into the bathroom.

Two hours later, the two children were sitting in front of the TV watching one of their favourite cartoons when Sara walked Grissom to the door.

"So, you're telling him?" she asked as he opened the door.

"I have to" he replied, kissing her softly on the lips before leaving.

* * *

"Mom! Explain it!" shouted an agitated Robbie as he held the doctor's chart.

"Look, Robbie. It was just a coincidence, his blood is a match, you don't have to accept anything, that's why you're being asked to sign those papers"

"where is he?"

"Don't' you believe me?" asked Vivian just as the door opened.

"Um…" said Grissom noticing the two angry people.

"Could you come back later?" asked Vivian but was interrupted by her son.

"No, I want to talk to him. Alone" he added as his mother sat back on her chair

His heart racing, Grissom approached his son's bed as Vivian, shooting him an ugly look, left the room.

"What is it, Robbie?" he asked trying to keep his nervous voice in check.

"Well…the doctor just handed me this sheet to sign in case I get worse again. It says you volunteered to donate your kidney…I don't understand…"

Sighing, Grissom hung his head and, thinking _it's now or never_, began his long explanation.

"Listen, Robbie. There's something you have to understand, what I'm about to tell you is against your mom's wishes, but I think you have the right to know."

Not understanding what was going on, Robbie nodded.

"Nineteen years ago, I was sent on a forensic seminar to New York city. There, I met a wonderful woman cop. She showed me around the town, and we began a romantic relationship. Two weeks later, I had to return to San Diego and she decided to stay in New York, so we parted and haven't spoken since. Are you following me so far?"

Robbie nodded, now more confused than ever.

"When I met you a few weeks ago, I was intrigued by you and I didn't know why. Now I do. Robbie, when we collected your DNA samples for the investigation, we got a hit. I remember you telling me that there was no way Carl Cooper was really your dad, well, he isn't. I am." After revealing this, Grissom paused hoping that the boy would speak.

It took several seconds, but he did.

"You…you're my father?" he asked incredulously looking through the glass door at where his mother was fuming.

Grissom nodded and said "but I didn't know about it…your mother never told me. And I know it might be confusing for you, and I understand if you want time to think things over, but I'd really like to get to know you."

Again, Robbie nodded "Me too…"

To Grissom's surprise, Robbie extended his hand and, moments later, Grissom accepted it and they shook hands. It was at that moment that Vivian stormed in.

"You had no right to tell him!" she shouted standing too close to Grissom.

"I already told you Vivian, I had every right. He's my son too!"

"No he isn't, he didn't need to know…"

"Mom!" shouted Robbie "I can't believe you! Mr. Grissom's right! He's my father fro god's sake, he has every right to get to know me, and I have every right to know! I can't believe you'd try and hide this from me, what kid of person are you?!"

"The kind that wants to protect you. He walked out on me. What's to say he won't walk out on you too?"

"What?!" asked Grissom suddenly furious "I did what?! I didn't know you were pregnant! You never bothered to tell me! You just assumed it was the other guy's and never though that I'd want to know my son!"

"You still walked out on me, Gil. We spent a lot of time together and you just walked away without any regrets!"

"I wasn't looking for love Vivian, and from what you told me back then, neither were you!"

"Wow, time out!" shouted Robbie "Here's how things are going, I'm staying in Vegas, I got college here, and now I have family too. I will be spending time with my Father and getting to know everything _you_ kept from me" said Robbie directing his words at Vivian "You, can do whatever you please. But don't you dare try and intervene in my life! You knew all along who my father was and you kept it from me, you knew…I don't want anything more to do with you!" shouted Robbie who was now sitting up in his bed.

"I'm your mother, how dare you speak to me like this?!"

"You're not my mother, my mother wouldn't have done what you've done, Mr. Grissom did nothing wrong when he left you, you were a _fling._ The only one who did something wrong here, was you!"

On the verge of tears and fuming, Vivian stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her. Once she was gone, Robbie turned to Grissom.

"What now?" he asked.

"Um…I…Look, I don't know what to do here, I was going to suggest coffee, but well, you're stranded in bed…so…"

"I can have orange juice…" said Robbie smiling and, returning his son's smile, Grissom called for the nurse.

When, 10 minutes later, the juice arrived, the two men starting talking.

"Look, Mr…" Robbie paused "Dad"

Hearing this, Grissom smiled.

"I don't' want you to feel like you're obliged to look after me, I'm 18. I just really want to get to know you…All my life I've wanted to know who my father really was, now's my chance…I don't want anything from you."

Nodding, grissom spoke "What do you want to know?"

Smiling, Robbie said "Whoa re you? What do you do?"

"Well, my birth name is Gilbert Aaron Grissom. I was born in San Diego, I moved to Vegas when I was 35, I've been Supervisor for 14 years…I have a degree in Biology and PhD in Forensic Entomology…"

"Well, that isn't anything I couldn't have gotten from the internet" said Robbie smiling "I want the real you, do you have a family? I just really want to know…"

Taking a sip of his juice, Grissom answered "Yes, I have a family. I met my wife, Sara, 16 years ago at a forensic conference in San Francisco, two years later she came to work for me in Vegas. I spent the next 5 years ignoring how I felt about her and then, I finally let her in. We've been married for eight years and have to kids."

"Ah…" said Robbie like he'd just found the answer to some complex question "that's where I get my ineptitude with girls from…"

Laughing, Grissom nodded "probably is."

"…and your wife, does she…"

"Know about you?" Grissom smiled "Yes, I told her last night. She's a great woman, very supportive."

"And my siblings?"

Smiling again, Grissom spoke "Charlotte is 7 years old and Colin 4"

Smiling, Robbie said "I'd love to meet them, if that's ok with you…"

Grissom nodded "Of course, I'll talk to Sara and we'll all come and visit you one of these days, I want them to get to know you too. After all, you're part of the family. But what about you?"

"What about me? I'm not really all that interesting. I'm 18…what's there to tell?"

"Well, for example, what's your full name, I thinks as your father I'm entitled to that much detail…"

Smiling, the answered "Robert Rhett Cooper…I always thought it was weird, but my mom said it made perfect sense in her mind…"

Grissom smiled understanding what Vivian had been thinking "Yea… 'Gone with the Wind' … there was a special showing of it in a downtown theatre one night and she really wanted to watch it. I guess she figured that was the night you were conceived. I remember telling her how I admired Rhett for sticking with Scarlett even though she didn't admit she loved him. She thought it was a quality all men should have, sticking up for love, not giving up easily…I guess she hopes the name will give you that quality…"

Nodding, Robbie said "yea, I guess that make sense…"

They spent the next three hours chatting until a nurse came and told Grissom that he had to leave. Before going, though, Grissom told Robbie that he'd be back the next day, and that hopefully, he'd be bringing his family with him.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Please review…I've got tones of ideas I want to write down, but if I have no encouragement, there's no point… so go ahead and press the pretty little button…_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N:**__ Oh, look two chapters in one day…now I understand why my fingers are aching…_

_Two things for this chapter._

_1.I live in Europe and hence don't follow or even understand American Football. The teams mentioned bellow are just some that I found on the NFL site that happened to be from the right state and have decently good scores (I think). So please don't attack me, I don't really support any teams…If you have any help you can give me on the Football matter, I appreciate it._

_2.When I mentioned Charlie's IQ as being 120, it was kind of random. I wanted it to be above average, but I have no idea if 120 is too much for a 7 year old (because I can't find any charts on the internet that tell me exactly what is normal and high for a 7 year old) so if you know anything about that, please tell me. _

_Now, on to the story._

* * *

"Are you sure?" asked Sara as the four Grissoms sat around the dinner table "I mean, you've only just told him, are you sure you want him to meet me and the kids already?"

"Yes, I am. I want him to feel like part of the family. Because he is."

"Ok, then. But first we have to explain the situation to them…" she nodded at the two bickering children.

Nodding, Grissom announced that they could get up from the table and they all moved onto the couch.

"Charlie, Colin, daddy has something to tell you, ok?"

The two kids nodded

"Ok, Colin, you know you're friend Billy's big sister?" the boy nodded "You know that she's only Billy's dad's daughter, right? She has a different mommy to Billy"

"Yea, and she's really cool…" began the boy.

"Ok, well, tomorrow I'm taking you to meet _your_ big brother"

The two kids looked confused, Charlie was the first to speak "but…I'm the big sister"

Looking at Sara for help, Grissom was glad when she stepped in "a long time ago, daddy had a girlfriend and they had a baby, but daddy didn't know. So you're going to meet him tomorrow, do you have any questions?"

Charlie shook her head but didn't seem all too annoyed, Colin continued to look puzzled, but neither Grissom nor Sara expected the 4 year old to understand what was going on.

An hour later, when it was time for the two youngest Grissoms to go to bed, Charlie who was in a very happy mood from watching the 'Little Mermaid' skipped up the stairs while her brother looked back at his parents.

"What is it, Colin?" asked Sara as she stood up to accompany them upstairs.

"Well…my big brother, can he teach me to play football?" he asked like it was a very serious question.

Looking at her husband who was also trying not to laugh, Sara smiled.

"I'm sure he will if you ask him" said Grissom and laughed when the boy give a funny jump and ran up the stairs after his sister.

* * *

"Where is he?!" asked an overly excited Colin running round the corner of a hospital corridor the next morning.

"Calm down, son" said Grissom grinning at Sara who was holding Charlotte's hand.

"Is he in here? Is he, is he?"

"You sure you didn't accidentally serve him coffee this morning?" asked Sara as Grissom picked the small boy up.

"Listen, I'm going to go in first, he's just been moved into his own room and I'm going to see how he's doing, I'll be back in a few minutes to get you guys, ok?" said Grissom as he began to open the door to room 528.

Taking Colin from her husband, Sara nodded.

* * *

"Hey" greeted Grissom as he approached the bed.

Finally away from all the machines, Robbie was looking slightly better, he had a tray of food in front of him and was looking grumpily at it.

"Morning…" he said staring at the cup of 'coffee'.

"Problem?" asked Grissom

"This 'coffee' thing they gave me not only tastes like sewage, but has the same effect in waking me up…"

Smiling, Grissom chanced a sip and, pulling a face, had to agree with his son: it was absolute crap.

"Well, I have something, rather, some_one_ who is bound to wake you up…" said Grissom smiling.

"You brought them?" asked Robbie now sounding awake.

Nodding, Grissom asked if Robbie wanted them to come in and, when the boy said yes, he proceeded to leave the room. Once outside, he explained to his son that he'd have to take it easy because Robbie was recovering (or, in 4 year old talk, he had a boo-boo) and once the little boy promised to behave, Grissom took him by the hand and walked in followed closely by Sara and Charlotte.

"Hey, there" said Robbie beaming at his two siblings.

"Robbie, this is my wife, Sara"

"Nice to meet you" said the two in unison

"and our kids, Charlotte though she prefers Charlie and Colin"

"Hi…" whispered Charlie who seemed to be experiencing one of her rare moments of shyness.

"Hey, I'm Colin, what's your name?" asked the little boy walking up to the bed and peering at his big brother.

Laughing, Robbie answered "Robert, but you can call be Robbie"

"Cool! Do you like football?" asked Colin struggling to climb on the bed.

Still laughing lightly at the boy, Robbie hoisted him up onto the bed and said "yea, I like football."

"What's your favourite team? Mine's the Cowboys, I watch all their games with my uncle Nick. They're the best."

Looking up at his father and step mother, Robbie smiled "yea, they're good, but they don't' beat the Giants."

"Nuh-huh! My uncle Nick says the Giants aren't all that big anyways…"

Now Sara was really having trouble not laughing.

"Well then, I'll just have to show you some of their games, won't I?" asked Robbie passing a hand through the young boy's light brown hair and messing it up.

Next, Robbie looked at Charlotte who was hiding slightly behind her mom "hey, are you Charlie?"

Apparently the fact that this guy called her Charlie and not Charlotte scored some points and the girl seemed to gain the confidence to walk up to the bed.

"What do you like to do? Do you like football too?" asked Robbie as Colin descended from the bed and ran up to his father, whispering something in his ear.

"No! I hate football. I like baseball … and science"

Smiling, Robbie asked "how do those two link?"

"They don't. I like baseball because daddy does, and I like watching it with him, he's really funny when he's shouting at the TV" at that, Robbie looked at Grissom who smiled as he whispered something to Sara who nodded "And I like science because it's really cool and interesting, it explains how things really work and why. When I grow up, I want to be a CSI just like Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Nick, Uncle Warrick and Aunt Catherine."

"You're really smart aren't you?" asked Robbie who was surprised at the 7 year old's interests and speaking manner.

"She has an IQ of 120…"

"Ah…" said Robbie smiling at his proud-looking sister.

"Hey, Robbie" said Sara speaking for the first time "We were thinking, and the doctor told Gil you'll be leaving in three or four days, how would you like to have dinner out our place next Wednesday? Don't worry, I'm not cooking…I'll leave that to Gil"

Laughing, Robbie accepted the invitation and everyone got back to talking and finding more about each other.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Don't forget to review both with encouragement and help on the two matters explained at the beginning, thanks._


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N:**__ Ok, so thanks to those of you who told me what you knew about IQ and Football…so, the teams are staying as they are but I'm changing Charlie's IQ to 140 and, someone pointed out that parents would probably not give that kind of information away so easily, so I'm having Colin say it instead :P (isn't it great that I forgot to specify who said it in the first place?)_

_Now, next chapter:_

* * *

Over the next few days, Grissom visited his son everyday and the two became closer and closer, some days he'd bring Sara and his kids along and was happy to find that everyone seemed to like Robbie. Finally, on Tuesday, the doctor said Robbie could be discharged and Grissom –having agreed to it with Sara- asked him to stay at their place for a couple of days, until he was fully healed.

"Um…if it isn't too much of a problem, sure, thanks" said Robbie who'd just taken a seat in the back seat of his father's Denali.

"Robbie!" Squealed Colin as he ran from the house to greet his new best friend.

"Hey, there buddy" he said wincing slightly as he picked the four year old up.

"Are you staying here? Are you, are you?" asked the boy bobbing up and down in his brother's arms.

"Yes I am, for a few days…"

Smiling at his father, Robbie carried his brother into the house where Sara was awaiting to greet him.

* * *

"Morning, Gil. Is it just me or has it been a while since I saw you?" asked Brass as his friend arrived at the lab.

"I have…Sara and I took two personal days."

"I hope everything is ok..." said Brass now accompanying Grissom to his office.

"Yea, just…God…" he sighed, he really needed to tell someone else "I found something out…um…"

"Come on, spit it out, it's not like you found out you have some illegitimate child you never heard about…"

When Grissom's face didn't change, Brass asked I a shocked voice "Is it?"

Sighing, Grissom explained the situation to his friend, when he was done, he waited a while for Brass to speak "So…you have a son…I mean, another son…wow….that's gotta be strange, how's Sara taking it?"

"She's fine with it…She says she supports me 100 percent"

"Of course she does, anyone who's ever seen you two together know Sara would tolerate anything short of murder form you"

Smiling, Grissom leaned back in his chair "He really is a great kid…"

"When are you going to formally introduce him to us? I'm curious, and I'm sure so is the rest of the team"

"Well…first I'll have to tell them…god Catherine's going to have a field day…" said Grissom smiling at the shocked look he anticipated on the blond's face.

* * *

As weeks went past, Grissom couldn't find a way to tell the team. It wasn't like it was all that important for them to know, but the truth was, as Sara had pointed out, they were like family to them and somehow, it was important for Grissom to tell them.

Four weeks after Grissom found out about Robbie, he was lounging on his couch enjoying one of the few moments of peace he had at home when the phone rang.

Robbie had moved back to his dorm room a week after being discharged but was still constantly in contact with his father and new family.

"Hi" greeted Grissom as he picked up the phone.

"_Hey, Dad…um…I need to talk to you, is it ok if I come over?_"

"Um, yea sure…I'll be waiting. Bye"

As he stared at the phone, Grissom grew worried, after all, the last time Robbie had called about something serious, they'd ended up at PD in an interrogation room.

"Honey, who was that?" asked Sara arriving in the living room after taking a shower, her hair still damp.

"Robbie, he's coming over, says he ahs something important to talk to me about"

Noticing her husband's worried look, Sara kissed him lightly on the forehead and reassured him everything would be ok before returning to their room to get dressed.

An hour alter, Robbie arrived. After being greeted by his overly excited siblings, Robbie promised to join them outside to play once he'd spoken to Grissom and entered the house.

"I can leave you two alone if you want" said Sara as her husband sat down at the table with his son.

Grissom looked at his son, it was his choice.

"No, it's fine, actually, I guess you have to know this too."

"Ok, then" said Sara taking a seat next to Grissom.

"Ok, so. Last night when I got back to my dorm room, I had a letter from the Admin Staff. It said that my tuition hadn't been paid for this semester. Now, my mom was taking care of that, but apparently she decided not to. I tried to call her and all she said was that if I was old enough to disregard her advice, I was old enough to look after myself."

Sara and Grissom nodded.

"I intend to get some kind of job and pay for the tuition, but my current job bartending hasn't earned me enough…and if I don't' pay up, I'll be kicked out…so I was wondering…"

"how much?" asked Grissom

"8000 dollars, the rest I can pay for now"

Looking at Sara, Grissom realised that she was thinking the same thing as him so asked "how much would that be without residence?"

Looking confused, Robbie answered "6250 why?"

Receiving a nod from Sara, Grissom explained "Well, both Colin and Charlie are now in private school and that's pretty expensive, and eight thousand dollars is a lot of money, however, we'd be willing to pay the six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars and you'd live here."

Robbie thought about it for a few seconds "…um…I mean, I don't' want to be a problem, I mean, if I live here, there'd be more work for you…"

"You're my son Robbie; you have as much right to live in this house as Charlie and Colin. Sara and I had spoken about asking you to move in before, the campus is only 15 minutes away."

"Well…I…thank you. I really appreciate this. Of course I'll take you up on the offer. And I fully intend to pay you back as soon as I have enough cash."

"No" said Grissom receiving another smile from his wife "I don't want you to pay me back. I will pay for your tuition, you will live here and none of it is a favour. I'm doing it because I'm your father and you deserve it. One day, when you're a great doctor, I want to be able to say that I had a hand in that."

"You already have, where do you think my brains came from?" asked Robbie as Grissom and Sara laughed "Thank you so much. You have no idea…"

Robbie paused for a second noticing Grissom was lost in thought.

"Honey, what is it?" asked Sara

"Nothing, just a light bulb in my head. Forget it" then, turning to Robbie, he said "When do you want to move in?"

Robbie shrugged "I could crash at a hotel for a few nights 'till you're ready."

Shaking her head, Sara spoke "Oh, no. Gil and I have seen enough of Vegas motels to allow you to stay at one. You'll move in tomorrow. I suppose you can still stay one more night in your dorm?"

"Yea."

"Ok, tomorrow Gil's working but I have the day off, I'll drop by and bring your stuff over."

After a short pause, Robbie thanked them both again and excused himself to go and see his brother and sister. Once he was gone, Sara turned to Grissom.

"He really is a great kid, you know? And you did the right thing."

Slipping an arm around his wife's waist, Grissom smiled "I really do like him. I only wish I'd known him sooner."

"You're doing great at making up for it…" she said before kissing him passionately and turning her attentions back to their two children who were now giggling and being chased by Robbie.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Don't forget to review. I'm really lovin' the feedback, so please keep it coming. Since I don't exactly have an ending for this story yet, I'd also love to hear any thoughts you have on what you'd like to see happen…_

_Thanks._


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N:**__ I'm loving the reviews :D … Thanks to all those who've left them and please keep 'em coming!_A few days later, at about 10 pm, Colin came downstairs to where the three eldest Grissoms were sitting and was met by his parents curious faces.

* * *

"What are you doing out of bed?" asked Sara looking questioningly at Grissom who shrugged.

"I was thinking…and, well…When can Robbie meet Uncle Nick?"

This question made the parents laugh "um…well, we'll see" said Grissom smiling at his youngest son who, looking slightly disappointed walked back upstairs.

"Actually…" said Sara looking at her husband "I've been thinking, what do you think of having a barbeque here, get everyone to meet Robbie."

Smiling, Grissom said "I think it's a great idea…except, they don't' know…"

Sara looked confused "they don't' know about Robbie? Why haven't you told them?"

Grissom sighed "Well, it's not something you just drop into a conversation…but I fully intend to tell them, actually, I think this Barbeque is the perfect excuse for me to tell them…let's do it, that is, if you're up to it, son" he added to Robbie.

"Sure, I'd love to meet the Cowboy's fan who's been poisoning my little brother's mind" he laughed.

* * *

The next morning, Gil and Sara walked into the break room to find everyone already assembled waiting for their assignments.

"Sorry we're late…" said Grissom as his wife took a seat next to Catherine and he stood at the head of the table "before we start, I'd like to invite you all to our house next Saturday, I've already checked, you all have the day off. Be there at 12:00 pm, it's a barbeque, Cath, you can bring Linds if you like, Boyfriends and Girlfriends are always welcome…" He paused for a second as everyone took in the information.

"You're voluntarily inviting us to your home?" asked Catherine looking slightly shocked.

Grissom smiled at Sara "Well, we have something important to tell you, what better time than at a party?"

With that said, Grissom handed out assignments while everyone exchanged looks wondering what it was that was so important that the Grissoms would let them in their home.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Sara arrived downstairs with a grumpy Colin: the boy hated being woken up early. Charlotte was racing downstairs and it wasn't like it was a big secret why she was so happy. Even though se was seven, her mind was very advanced, and therefore, no one believed that her admiration for Greg Sanders was just admiration.

"Can we go in the pool?" asked the seven year old as she took some toast and started eating it.

"Of course, that's kind of the point of a barbeque, great food and pool" said Sara smiling as her husband came from their room in his swim shorts and a t-shirt.

Sara had always found Grissom sexier than any man she'd ever seen, but the truth was, since they'd gotten married, he'd lost weight and now, she was sure he could give Nick and Warrick a run for their money.

"What time are they getting here?" asked Charlie smearing her second toast with jam.

"Twelve, why don't' you go do some homework until then?" asked Grissom taking a seat.

So, after a quick breakfast, the two youngsters left, Charlie for her room, Colin for the couch where he usually stationed himself to watch Johnny Bravo.

"When is your girlfriend getting here?" Sara asked Robbie.

"She should be here at 11:30, I wanted her to meet you guys before the party" he explained wiping his mouth.

After clearing the table, they didn't have to wait very long for the door bell to ring. When it did, Robbie answered and was greeted by a 5ft 9' blond girl of about 18. There was no doubt she was pretty, but both Gil and Sara got the feeling that she was just another typical Vegas girl with fame on her mind.

"Dad, Sara, this is Stephanie Peterson, she's a first year drama major at UNLV" he said introducing them as the girl shook the two adults hands.

"Nice to meet you" said Sara noting how her husband was eyeing he girl suspiciously.

"You two, Robbie's told me so much about both of you, I think he's so lucky to have found his dad"

Smiling, Sara looked out of the corner of her eye at her husband who seemed to have also picked up on the girl's Paris Hilton-ish accent.

Thankfully, Robbie decided to go give the girl a tour of the house and Gil was able to finally say something.

"Did you just see that?" he asked

Sara nodded "so I wasn't the only one expecting a brainy, geeky med-student…"

Shaking his head, Gil said "I may be stereotyping, she may be a great girl, but I don't' like her…"

Taking her husband's hand, Sara smiled and led him outside where the grill was waiting for the cook.

* * *

From twelve onwards, one my one, the team members began to arrive, first was Nick with his girlfriend Kate who he'd met a year and a half ago when he'd been sent to work a case in Los Angeles. After them came Greg with his girlfriend Erica, over the six months they'd been dating, everyone had gotten to like Erica, everyone that is, except Charlie. Next came, Catherine and Lindsey closely followed by Warrick. After his divorce from Tina years ago, everyone knew that the blond and African-American CSI's had something going on, they'd never been told, but it wasn't like they denied it either: it was just something that everyone knew without being told and accepted. Finally, they were joined by Al Robbins and Jim Brass, each unaccompanied.

"Now that we're all here, what's the big news?" asked Catherine while everyone else turned their attention to the man at the grill and the woman who was tending to her son's scraped knee.

"Well…" said Grissom looking over everyone to the sliding door Robbie was about to walk through "…Sara and I would like to introduce you to someone, this is still something rather new and not something anyone could have expected but…"

"Sara's pregnant again?!" asked Nick trying to guess what the news was.

Frowning but smiling, Grissom shook his head "No, nick. That's not it…um, though, I'd still like to introduce you to the latest addition to the Grissom family…"

At that moment, Robbie walked through the doors and everyone turned to face him and the blond behind him.

"Er, this is Robbie Cooper, my son" said Grissom as everyone turned back to him, shocked.

There was a long silent pause before Catherine spoke "Your WHAT?!"

Smiling at the reaction he'd anticipated from his friend, grissom spoke "nineteen years ago, I had a relationship with a female cop in New York during a seminar, though she never bothered to tell me, that relationship resulted in a child: Robbie. He's living here now."

Still in shock, Catherine turned back to the boy who was looking at the floor.

"Is he telling the truth?" she asked him

Nodding, Robbie looked up and, before he even said a word, everyone knew it was true, there was no way he'd have those eyes without being a Grissom.

"Well, in that case…" she said walking up to him and extending this hand "…welcome to our little dysfunctional family"

Laughing, he accepted her hand and everyone else followed suit in greeting the newest addition not only to the Grissom family, but also to the one they had together.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Keep the reviews commin' please._


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N:**__ Oh look, two chapters in one day AGAIN! … you should really pay me back. Now, there are two ways to do that:  
1. you could all get together and buy me the rights to CSI (unlikely)_

_2. you could press the pretty review button at the bottom of this page and send me a review._

_Which will it be? I'm ok with either…or both, but that might be asking for too much :P_

* * *

From that point on, the fun started. Colin was the first to make formal introductions by engaging the Giant's fan and the Cowboy's fan in a long conversation over which team had the best chance at winning the championship. Finally fed up of their man's conversation, Kate and Stephanie pulled them away. After talking to Nick who, despite his taste in football teams, he liked, Robbie was introduced to Jim Brass the detective he'd already met and the coroner who, surprisingly, had a great sense of humour. Next, he was challenged by Warrick to join him and the other boys in passing a football around by the pool. During this game, Robbie decided that he was really going to enjoy this new 'family'. Warrick brown was one of the funniest guys he'd ever met and Greg was the geeky (like himself), funny guy who he immediately connected with.

After a few minutes of 'football' with Warrick, Nick and Greg, they were all challenged to a game of volleyball in the water. For fun, even the two youngest kids were included in the teams. The first team was captained by Grissom and was made up of Catherine, Nick, Charlie, Greg, Robbie and Al. The second team was captained by Sara and had Warrick, Kate, Colin, Stephanie, Erica and Jim.

"Let the best team win" said Sara shaking her husband's hand before the game began.

Taking the opportunity he'd just been handed, Gil pulled his wife closer and kissed her passionately to several whistles and whoops from everyone else.

"…don't' worry, we will" he said smiling at her before returning to his position.

The first to serve was Catherine for Grissom's team. She managed to score one point before hitting the net on her second serve.

"It's a good thing you're more gifted at _certain_ things than volleyball…" said Warrick as he took the ball to serve.

"Ew!" said Lindsey covering her ears in fake disgust "that's more than I need to hear!"

This was probably the first time Robbie noticed the 17 year old Willows girl…and he liked what he saw. So much so that he got hit in the head by Warrick's serve.

He'd seen Catherine and had thought that, even though she was old enough to be his mother, she was hot. Looking at Lindsey, he could say for sure that the apple had fallen directly under the tree.

"Stop gawking at your girlfriend and look at the ball" said Greg playfully hitting him on the back of the head.

Glad that no one noticed why he hadn't been paying attention, Robbie smiled at Stephanie and got ready for Warrick's second serve, which he caught and spiked into the water on the other side of the net.

It was now Charlie's turn to serve and, because she couldn't reach the net, Greg hoisted her onto his shoulders and she managed to throw the ball onto the other court and they actually scored a point. The second time she served, the ball went over the net, but got spiked back by Lindsey and it was once again the other team's turn to serve. Placing the little girl back in the water, Greg complimented her serve which caused a huge smile to grow on her face.

On the other side of the net, it was Lindsey's turn to serve and she did it perfectly, Robbie was only able to catch it because of an incredibly fast reflex which didn't pay off when Warrick spiked the ball back to their side.

Lindsey served five more times and won four more points before Grissom managed to spike the ball to the other side catching Warrick off guard and scoring a point. It was now his turn to serve.

"Wait!" said Colin making everyone look his way "I can't reach the ball…It's not fair"

Laughing, Warrick picked the four year old up and placed him on his shoulders, there, now you're the tallest one here.

"Thanks Uncle Rick!" he said as his father got ready to serve.

Wanting his son to have some fun, Grissom served the ball gently in a long arc and was glad when Warrick hoisted the boy higher in the air and he managed to hit the ball back at Robbie who, like his father wanted the boy to feel happy so missed.

"Wow, that was great, buddy!" said Warrick high-five-ing the boy.

Now it was Sara's turn to serve, following what her husband had done, she served the ball gently to her daughter who was suddenly hoisted up by Greg and hit the ball back towards her brother who was still on Warrick's shoulders. Now both youngsters were on someone's shoulders and the game continued with lots of splashing.

By the end of it, Grissom's team won and they all felt it necessary to comfort those on the other side, so Grissom, Greg, Catherine, Nick and Robbie all went under the net to their loved ones and kissed them.

Looking at the two children she'd made friends with while babysitting and the two older men, Lindsey smirked and they all said in unison "Ew!" receiving several playful glares from the others.

After the fun in the pool, they all sat around the large garden table and enjoyed Grissom's barbeque, except for Sara who stuck to the salad she'd prepared inside. At about four o'clock, Stephanie said she had to leave but thanked them for everything.

"What now?" asked Brass who had recently unbuttoned his jeans because of all the food he'd had.

"Well," said Sara "the kids are swimming…" she looked over to where Robbie, Charlie, Colin and Lindsey were playing in the water "…we could go inside and chat, yes Greg you can use the x-box" she added looking at Greg who laughed and was hit playfully on the arm by Erica.

When everyone agreed, they helped her clear up the table and followed the Grissoms inside.

"Pass the ball!" said Charlie ducking Robbie and catching the ball from Lindsey.

"Hey, that's not fair!" said Robbie lunging for the ball that had just been tossed back to Lindsey.

They kept at it for another hour when they began to get tired, dried off and joined the grownups inside.

"So, Gil, Sara what are you guys doing for your anniversary this year?" asked Catherine leaning back to Warrick's chest.

"Um…" said Grissom looking around

"He refuses to tell me…" said Sara hitting him on the arm "…it's only a few days away and won't tell me!"

"It's a surprise…live with it" he said staring her down.

Once that little exchange was over, all attentions turned back onto the star of the day: Robbie. People asked him several questions which he answered without a problem. Finally, Grissom stood up and everyone looked at him.

"Ok, so, there was other plan I had for tonight. A while ago, actually on the night Robbie agreed to move in, I had this idea, at the time I thought it was too soon to say anything, but now seems like a good time. Robbie, I wanted to ask you something."

Looking confused, Robbie nodded.

"Biologically, you're my son, personality wise, we have a lot in common, but until now, there's one thing missing. Robbie, will you take my name? Will you become Robert Rhett Grissom?" he asked smiling down at Sara who'd just taken his hand.

"Seriously?" asked Robbie smiling "Of Course!" he shouted shaking his dad's hand and pulling him into a hug.

As they hugged, everyone else stood up and clapped and cheered.

Two hours later, everyone started to leave and, before he left, Brass pulled Gil aside.

"Look, I was talking to Robbie and he told me something about having a crap job bartending…"

"yea…" said Grissom not knowing where thing were going.

"Well, Ecklie happens to owe me a favour, so I could probably get your son a job in the lab. He's a med-student, so he knows his chemistry, what do you say?"

"Well, I, that would be great, but are you sure Ecklie will go for it?" asked Grissom

"Oh, believe me, he'll lay down a red carpet for Robbie to walk on…" he replied smiling as he left.

Once everyone was gone, Grissom and Sara sent their two kids to go shower while Robbie did the same.

"That was great…" said Sara slipping into his arms

"yes it was" he agreed kissing her forehead.

"Now, will you please tell me what we're going for our anniversary?" she asked trying to stare him down but failing miserably when he claimed her lips with his.

"No, you'll just have to wait…"

"Argh…" she said squeezing him with her arms around him. The only response this got was him squeezing her back and pulling her into another ardent kiss.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Reviews please…pretty please? With whipped cream and a cherry on top? Maybe some chocolate sprinkles too? _

_No?_

_Fine! I'll just sit here and wait for those rights to CSI, then!_


	10. Chapter 10

As the Grissoms got ready to leave for work next Monday, Gil pulled his oldest son aside.

"I have a favour to ask you…" he said making sure no one else was around.

"Shoot"

"Well, as you may have heard, tomorrow is Sara and mine's ninth anniversary"

Smiling Robbie nodded "congrats on that, by the way"

"Thanks, anyway, I was going to ask you if you'd baby-sit your brother and sister for the night…"

"Ah, taking the lady out on a date?" asked Robbie hitting his dad's shoulder

"Yea, and I booked a suite at the Bellagio for the night…"

Smirking, Robbie nodded "Sure, dad. I'll look after them…you go and have some _fun_" he added before leaving out the door

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Grissom couldn't help smiling at his son.

* * *

So on the next day, Grissom waited out in the parking lot for his wife. He hadn't said anything to her about the anniversary; he hadn't even acknowledged it and knew that the surprise he had in store would blow her mind.

After about thirty minutes of waiting, a very pissed Sara exited the building.

"I thought you were going home…" she said taking out the keys to her car.

"I was…but then I had a better idea…" said Grissom grabbing the hand where she was holding her car keys and stopping her from opening the vehicle "come with me; I have something to show you…"

Looking pissed, Sara said "what?"

Smiling, Grissom pulled her closer "a surprise…" he whispered in hear and felt her anger ease as she let him lead her to the car.

During the ride, Grissom turned on the radio and the sound of Frank Sinatra's 'The way you look tonight' filled the car making Sara smile as she looked out the window.

They were now on the strip and Sara couldn't possibly imagine where they were going, that is, until Grissom pulled up at the main entrance of the Belagio.

"Gil, what are we…"

"Wait and see…" was all he replied as he handed a valet the car keys and walked around to open Sara's door.

As he'd planned (with some help from Catherine) a young man in a suite approached them as soon as they entered the door.

"Mr and Mrs Grissom?" he asked

Looking curiously at her husband, Sara saw Grissom nod

"Follow me this way, please" he said moving towards the elevators which, maybe by luck or maybe by very accurate planning, were waiting open for them. After the man had pressed the button for floor 14, Sara and Gil watched the doors slide shut and looked around the ample elevator as it ascended.

"Here we are…" said the man who Sara now realised was wearing a name tag which read 'Jonathan Lockhart'.

Smiling, Gil held the door to the suite open for Sara as he thanked Jonathan and tipped him.

* * *

"Gil…" said Sara looking around taking in the size of the room "…what is this?"

Approaching her, Gil kissed her neck and whispered against her skin "Happy Anniversary, honey"

"You…" suddenly realising that he hadn't forgotten about the date, Sara smiled broadly and threw her arms around his neck "You did this?"

Smiling, he answered "yes, I had a little help…but yes."

"But, I mean…a suite at the _Bellagio!_ How did you pull this off?"

Laughing, Gil took her hand and pulled her towards a table where there were two floaters and a chilling Champaign bottle

"Honey, have you forgotten that we have a certain friend who's daddy just happens to be a multi millionaire who's best buddies with the owners of big casinos such as…oh, I don't know … the Bellagio"

Smiling as she took a floater form him, Sara said "Ah…Catherine!"

Smiling back and raising his glass to the same level as hers, Gil nodded "Ah…Catherine!" Then, pulling her closer by the waist, he brought his glass closer "to nine _perfect_ years"

"Nine years" she said almost dreamily as she clicked her glass to his and allowed him to pull her into a passionate kiss.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Grissoms'…

"Robbie, can we play outside? Can we, can we?" asked Colin jumping up and down in front of the couch Robbie was now occupying with his girlfriend Stephanie.

"You know the rules, Colin. No playing outside at night" when the boy looked disappointed, Robbie suggested "But I can put a film on if you like and you can call Charlie and watch it here while we go talk somewhere else…"

"Yes!" said the boy "Bug's life, please put bug's life!"

Laughing, Robbie got up from the couch and away from Stephanie's arms and knelt down in front of the TV to put the DVD in as Colin ran up the stairs to call his sister.

Minutes later, both children were safely parked in front of the TV with cups of milk that Robbie had also provided and the two older 'kids' were locked, alone in Robbie's room.

"So…I like your new digs…" said Stephanie moving towards him and playing with the buttons on his shirt.

Sensing where this was going, Robbie smiled back "really? Well, then…let me give you a guided tour…that's the TV, that's the couch and" he smirked as he picked Stephanie up and gently threw her on the bed "that's the bed"

Pulling him by his collar, Stephanie drew their faces together in a long, ardent kiss as Robbie let himself fall over her and began pulling her shirt over her head.

* * *

By now, Gil and Sara had managed to manoeuvre their fervent make-out session into the large bedroom where, disregarding the hundreds of rose petals on the bed or the note placed at the corner of it, they landed in a heap of disappearing clothing and passionate touches.

"Robbie…" said Stephanie pushing gently against his bare chest as he got ready to fall asleep "…you have to check on Charlie and Colin"

"Uh…huh…" he said nodding but still very close to falling asleep.

"Robbie! Look, you know I have to go and you really have to go check on them, so let's just get dressed"

Surprised by her stern tone, Robbie complied and soon they were both leaving the room, Stephanie headed for the front door and Robbie for the living room.

"You guys ready for bed?" he asked as he spotted his two siblings still entranced by the cartoons.

"Just five more minutes…" said Charlie

Obviously flitting somewhere between sleep and awake, Colin nodded and mumbled something that could as easily mean five minutes as anything else.

"Fine" said Robbie smiling "I'll go get my pyjamas on and when I'm done, I'll take you up to bed"

After receiving two inattentive nods, he passed a hand through his brother's hair and moved to his room.

* * *

"This was the best surprise ever…" said Sara who was now busy drawing circles on her husband's bare chest.

"I thought you'd like it…" he said kissing the top of her head.

"So…what now?" she asked looking around the room

"Well…we could do one of two things…" he said smirking at her "We could sleep…" then, pulling her up closer to him and holding her against his body he added "…or we could _not_ sleep…"

Pretending to think for a while, Sara replied, a smirk growing on her face "What was the second option again?"

To which Gil replied by claiming her mouth again as he spun them so they were once again lying in each other's arms in a sea of white sheets and red rose petals.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Please Review…_

_Oh, BTW… I said that they pressed the elevator button for the 14__th__ floor, but I have no idea how many floors the Bellagio actually has, nor do I know which floor the suites are on…_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N:**__ Sorry this update is _SOOO _late. I just had so much going on at school that I couldn't find time to write. : (_

_So, please review, it's been a while since I've gotten any of your lovely comments._

* * *

The next morning, Gil and Sara awoke to the annoying shine of the sun on their faces.

"Ugh…" grunted Grissom flipping over and hiding his face in his pillow.

"Morning…" said Sara, and arm over her eyes, refusing to move from the comfortable bed.

"Time is it?" asked Grissom opening one eyes to look at her.

Squinting at the clock, Sara answered "11:30…why?"

Grumpily getting up, Grissom looked down at her "…kids…school…" he said not bothering with full sentences yet.

Following her husband, Sara sat up too and leaned her head onto his shoulder "uh-huh…bathroom…" she said also not formulating full sentences.

When she was gone, Gil shook his head a couple of times and walked the few meters to where his boxers had landed the previous night. After pulling them on, he dragged his feet over to the large, panoramic window and opened the curtains.

_Damn_ he thought as he saw the busy strip and all the life already going on below.

Turning around, he spotted a piece of paper fallen by the desk and slowly picked it up. Smiling, he recognised Catherine's writing.

_Dear Grissoms,_

_I hope you make the best of this spectacular night I have so kindly helped organise and that you'll remember to pay me back next time I ask someone to do my paperwork._

_I know you'll probably not read this until tomorrow morning, or today morning for you. If that is the case, I know you've had as much fun as I expected, maybe even more… ;)_

_Oh, by the way, I know you left Robbie in charge of the kids, but I took the liberty of stopping by this morning, checking on them and driving them to school while Robbie went his way._

_Don't expect you in the lab until the start of shift. AND I MEAN THE START OF SHIFT. No pulling your typical getting in earlier stunt…I'm sure you need rest, ( hint, hint). _

_XXOO_

_Catherine…_

_P.S. Because I know you all this well, it's probably about 11:30 am and at any moment there'll be a knock on the door…_

After he'd finished reading, Gil heard the bathroom door open and Sara walked out. Smiling at her, he handed her the note and, she'd barely finished it when there was a loud knock on the door followed by a male voice saying "Room Service"

Looking at each other, they nodded and said in unison "Catherine…"

Since Sara was dressed only in a very short night gown he'd packed for her, Gil went to the door and was surprised to see two men in hotel uniforms pushing two trays of fruit, chocolate, pancakes, cheese and any other form of breakfast imaginable.

"Mr. Grissom?" asked the tallest one

"yes"

"These are for you. It's all been paid for by…" he paused to check the piece of paper he had in his pocket "'the gang' and they ask you to make the best of it…"

"Thank you…" said Grissom letting them enter the room where Sara had pulled on a robe and was staring at the food.

* * *

"Hey! Stephanie!" shouted Robbie when he spotted her across the patio.

Suddenly startled, the girl turned around to see Robbie approaching.

"Oh. Hi" she said in what Robbie could have interpreted as a monotone had he been listening properly.

"Are you ok, last night you left kind of suddenly…I was kind of worried. I tried to call…" he said brushing her face with the back of his hand.

"Oh, that…I…um…had just remembered I had to go over some stuff for a test I have today and I got a bit freaked … 'coz I hadn't really studied much yet. Sorry I got you worried" she said, her acting skills apparently being enough to convince Robbie.

"Well, in that case, how about dinner tomorrow night?" he asked.

"Um…yea, sounds great … I'll … uh … I'll talk to you later" she replied and quickly walked off with her friends leaving Robbie expecting another wonderful night.

* * *

Minutes after arriving home, Sara fell on the bed exhausted.

"Tired?" asked Grissom smirking from the doorway

"Me? Nah…" said Sara hugging her pillow, her eyes shut.

"Oh, come on…you got three hours of sleep…I've seen you go perfectly on only two…"

"Yea, well, I don't usually do as much _physically demanding _work as I did last night" she said smirking back at him, her eyes still shut.

"True…" he said smiling as he approached her and kissed her gently on the forehead "…so, how'd you like your surprise?" he asked

"Mmmm…" she moaned smiling "it was better than anything I could have imagined…"

"Good" he said taking a place next to her and pulling her already sleeping form into his arms.

* * *

That afternoon, when Robbie arrived back home, his two siblings running behind him, he found Sara and Grissom sitting in front of the TV watching some documentary about bugs.

"Great way to spend the last remaining hours of your 'anniversary bliss', guys…" he said as they laughed.

"Actually, when you're married to an entomologist, it really can become farley entertaining" said Sara as Grissom smiled at her.

"If you say so…" said Robbie putting his coat on a peg by the door and walking to the kitchen to get a drink.

"How d'it go last night, Son?" asked Grissom as Robbie returned.

"Really good actually"

"Did Colin and Charlie give you any problems?" asked Sara

"Nope, they just sat there and watched TV" he said

Knowing he'd given Robbie permition to have Stephanie over, Grissom asked "How'd your 'date' go?"

Blushing slightly, the nineteen year old replied "It was great. And like promised, she didn't stay over too late, by 10:30 she was gone."

"Good" said Grissom smiling as his son waved them goodbye and went into his room.

"Homework?" asked Sara as her daughter headed for the stairs.

"Yep…maths and English" she replied as she walked upstairs.

"How 'bout you buddy?" asked Grissom, who'd just gotten up, grabbing his son and spinning him around in his arms on his way to the kitchen.

"I'm only 4 daddy, I don't' get homework!" he said giggling as his father finally set him back down.

Smiling at the boy, Sara said "that's true…but you could still go and read one of your bug books couldn't you?" she asked as Grissom nodded.

"Do I _have_ to?" he asked looking up at his dad.

Still nodding, Grissom gave him a little push towards the stairs "just for thirty minutes, son. It won't do you any harm."

Looking a bit disappointed, the boy followed the same path his sister had up the stairs.

* * *

"Hey Gil!" shouted Brass as he saw the Grissom's walk through the doors.

"See you in a while, honey" said Grissom as Sara headed for the locker room and he headed for Brass' office.

"What's up, Jim?" he asked as he entered.

"Well, come in, sit down"

Obeying, Grissom sat and waited for Brass to talk.

"One, I hope you had a great time last night, 'coz I have a feeling tonight is going to be a rough one. Second, you remember that job I told you about for Robbie?"

"Yea…"

"Well, when are you going to talk to him about it?"

"I…don't know, whenever I guess. Why?"

"Well, one of the day-shift lab techs just quit…"

Sighing, Grissom asked "Ecklie?"

"Ecklie…" Brass nodded "…so, John from swing is moving to the open days spot and, for now, Wendy will be helping out swing until we can find a decent replacement. Well, since I already have a decent replacement in mind, I told Ecklie I'd handle it…"

"So you need Robbie…" said Grissom.

"Yea, kind of."

Smiling, Grissom nodded "Sure, I'll talk to him in the morning. I would call him now, but he's looking after the kids and he can't leave."

Brass nodded "Thanks, Gil. Now go brief you team"

Standing up, Grissom followed Brass to the door and they both headed for the break room where the graveyard shift was assembled.

Brass had been right. It would most definitely be a very difficult case to handle. The victim was an African-American 13 year old girl found dead in her driveway by her grandmother. EMTs on the scene had said there was definitely some kind of sexual assault.

In his head, Grissom thought who to give this case to.

_Catherine – too emotional with teenage girls_

_Warrick – too emotional when race is evolved_

_Sara – too emotional about abuse_

_Nick – too emotional about abuse_

_Greg – too emotional with young victims_

_Me – too emotional with young victims_

_Ok…um, I guess, I'll go and … um … well, who is easiest to control when angered or upset? _He thought about it a little more _…Nick._

"Looks like Henderson was hit big tonight" he said "Nick, you and I are on the 419 in, Sara and Cath, you're on a B & E also in Henderson and Greg and Warrick you're on a 404 also in … guess where … Henderson"

Each pair met an Officer outside the CSI building and within minutes, they were all gone.

* * *

By the time Grissom and Nick got back, it was already 6 a.m.

It had really been a difficult case; still was, actually, since it wasn't solved yet. The girl had, without a doubt been raped and murdered. Her parents were away in New-York for business and the Grandmother didn't know what to do, nor were they sure she could be left alone. Nick had held it together pretty well, though Grissom knew that he had as bad a time with the case as he did.

"Hey, Griss. I'm going to go get showered 'n' see if I can catch Kate before she laves for work"

"'kay Nick, see you later" knowing how much he needed Sara right now, Grissom wasn't about to stop the younger CSI from going to his woman.

Seeing as none of the others had returned, Grissom picked up his phone and called Robbie, whom he knew had been up since 5 a.m.

"Hey son, morning"

"_Morning dad_" he replied

"Could you stop by the office today when you're free? I wanted to talk to you about something."

"_um, sure. I'm free right now until 10. Want me to come over now?"_ he asked

"Sure…see you in a bit"

Once his son was off the phone, started going through paper work. _He definitely is my son. Who else would wake up at 5 a.m. on a day when he only has to be somewhere at 10 just to do some work? _He asked himself as he signed off on last night's cases.

* * *

"Hey Mr. Brass, you seen my father?" asked Robbie as he walked in.

"Yea, he's in his office. And it's Jim, by the way" he added as the boy walked towards the supervisor's office.

"Hey dad…" he said knocking on the open door and walking in.

"Oh, hey Robbie. Take a seat"

Not quite sure how to feel about this meeting, Robbie did as instructed as he studied his father's face for any signs of what to expect.

"Um…" said Robbie as seconds past and his father didn't speak.

Smiling, Grissom finally spoke "Sorry, I was just enjoying watching you silently squirm. So, why I called you here. I remember you telling me that you're job at the bar didn't pay well, and well, let's face it, its crap. So, I have a proposition for you. Jim tells me there's an open spot to work in the lab, the pay isn't much, but it's definitely better than what you were getting at the bar. You'd come here after school, so from 5pm to 9pm and then you'd go home and Sara and I would start our shifts."

"Are you serious?!" he asked smiling

"Yes…"

"Of course I'll take it! I'd love to work here!"

"One condition though, non-negotiable"

"Name it…" said Robbie

"You have to promise not to move out as soon as you have enough cash"

"Dad, I wouldn't leave even if you told me I could"

"Well, I guess that's settled then…" said Grissom smiling, standing up and walking over to his son's side of the desk where they shook hands.

"I take it he's in…" said Brass standing in the doorway.

"Yep" replied Grissom as his son turned to Brass.

"Thanks so much for this opportunity Mr. Br… Jim, I really appreciate it"

Smiling, Brass spoke in his typical tone "Well, Ecklie is really riding my ass 'coz swing is ready to burst with cases. So, you can show me just how much you appreciate it, by starting tonight. That ok?"

"Ok, are you kidding? I'd start right now if I didn't have classes. I just have to change the time of my date, but that shouldn't be a problem since she doesn't have any lessons tomorrow"

"In that case, see you later"

"See you later, Dad, Jim" he said nodding at each in turn and left to get ready for school.

"Did you see that?" asked Grissom as he smiled trying not to laugh

"Didn't he just seem like a little boy on Christmas morning?"

Nodding, Grissom chuckled "he looked exactly like Colin when he got that remote controlled car for Christmas last year!"

As he left the office, Brass continued to smile, happy that there was one more decent person joining he lab and that soon Ecklie and his ass-kissing bunch of worshipers would be completely outnumbered.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Pretty __Please Review…_

_Thanks ;) CJS-DEPPendent_


	12. Chapter 12

_Enjoy!_

* * *

"Robbie!" called Stephanie as she spotted her boyfriend coming out of his Advanced Chem class.

"Yea?"

"Um…could we go somewhere and talk?" she asked looking at the floor.

"Um, right now I've got a class, but I'll see you tonight. Remember? We're going out to dinner. OH, by the way, I have to push the time to 9:30 if that's ok with you, I really have to go though, I'll explain it all later. I Love you, bye" with a quick kiss, he disappeared into the sea of students leaving Stephanie standing there wondering exactly what was going through his mind now, and what would be going through his mind later on.

* * *

"Sara!" called Grissom as he saw his wife enter the lab.

"Oh, hey"

"Where've you been? Shift's been over for an hour…"

"Yea, um, that B & E wasn't as simple as you'd expect. We finally got the teenager to confess, but it took a while"

"Oh, ok, well are you done now? I though we could go home and pick the kids up later on, maybe take them out somewhere. What do you think?"

Having lived with this man for 8 years, known him for 16 and been in love with him for as much, Sara could tell when he needed some comforting from a particularly nasty case.

"That bad, huh?" she asked touching his face in the same manner she had once at a suspect's house.

Grissom hung his head and sighed "These cases just get to me…" he said

"They get to all of us, honey. Come on, I'll drive you home" again she made sure she alluded to a particularly meaningful moment from when they weren't together; it always made Gil see just how far they'd come and how much happier they'd become.

* * *

"Daddy!" shouted Colin as he spotted his father waiting for him outside the school.

"Hey son!" said Grissom picking him up and holding him high in the air suddenly being filled with incredible happiness.

"I thought Robbie was going to pick us up" said Charlie joining them smiling up at her mom.

Smiling back, Sara replied "He was, but mommy and daddy got off work a little earlier and decided to pick you up and take you for ice cream. How does that sound?"

"Yea!" shouted both children sprinting for the car.

Smiling at her now fully recovered husband, Sara let him take her hand and they followed the two kids into the car.

* * *

"Um…" said Robbie as he entered the locker room and remembered he didn't have a locker yet. Figuring the best thing to do would be to find someone he knew, he headed for Jim Brass' office and knocked on the open door.

"Oh, Robbie, come on in…"

"Er…I wasn't sure where to go to…"

"Oh, yea, sorry I forgot to tell you. You have to report to Ecklie who, for some reason, is the lab director…Come with me" he added as he stood up and led the way to the bald man's office.

"Come in…" his annoying called after two knocks.

"Conrad, this is the new lab-tech for swing, Robbie"

"Ah, yes" he said checking the boy's file "Robert Rhett Copper is it?"

"Um…I haven't gotten my new ID yet, it's actually Robert Rhett Grissom…" added the boy looking at Brass who, for some reason had a very smug look on his face.

"Grissom?"

"Um…yea, my father is Gil Grissom, the grave shift supervisor…"

"I know who Grissom is! Jim, is this some kind of a joke? You're hiring friend's kids now?"

"Actually no, Conrad, if you took the time to read all the paper work I sent you, you'd know that he is at the top of his second year, Pre Med Advanced Chemistry class and that he graduated high school with a 5.0 GPA. I guess genius really does run in the Grissom family" said Jim beaming at Ecklie's stunned and obviously angry face.

"Are you saying that you didn't hire him just because he's Gil's son?"

"I'm saying that I hired him because he's an excellent scientist, which, by the way, is what you wanted me to get, and because I know he can do the job."

Sighing, Conrad seemed defeated "Fine…you can get your locker key and badge from my secretary"

"Thank you Mr. Ecklie, I won't let you down…" said Robbie before leaving the room to start his new job.

Turning to Brass, Ecklie spoke "You did that just to piss me off, didn't you?"

Smiling, Jim replied "Send my regards to your girlfriend or is it Mrs. Jameson? I never know which she goes by; maybe I should ask her husband…"

Fuming, Ecklie turned in his chair to face the window behind his desk and Brass, grinning, left to show Robbie around.

* * *

"Hey Robbie! Wait up!" said Brass quickening his pace to reach the kid "Let me give you a tour and introduce you to people"

"Ok"

"So, this way…" as they passed each lab, Brass told him what it was and who worked there "DNA lab, if you have any questions just ask Wendy, next you have Trace, that's where you'll be spending most of your time, the guy who works there, Hodges can be a right pain in the ass so steer clear, then fingerprints is with Mandy, A/V with Archie and Ballistics with Bobby. Got it?"

"Um…DNA Wendy, Trace Hodges, Fingerprints Mandy, AV Archie and Ballistics Bobby…right?"

"You got it. Since they aren't around here, chances are they're probably taking a break, lets go meet them, shall we"

Like Brass had expected, all the techs were there as well as Greg.

"Hey, Greggo, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, heya Brass. I'm doing some over time in the lab, I need some more cash for a wedding ring…"

"You're proposing to Erica?" asked Robbie

"Heya, Robbie yea, I am"

"My sister's not going to like that…" said Robbie as Greg laughed lightly.

"She's young, she'll get over it. What are you doing here anyway? Your dad and Sara are at home"

"Oh, I know…um…"

"Robbie is coming in to replace John since he moved to days to replace Stevens"

"Really? Welcome to the team, buddy!" said Greg shaking Robbie's hand.

Since the barbeque, Robbie and Greg had gotten to know each other and had become surprisingly close friends. Being a geek, Greg had very few friends outside of the lab and, being so into his studies, Robbie had very few friends dot.

"Just what we need! A new guy…" said Hodges from his place by the coffee machine.

Turning to Brass, Robbie whispered "Hodges?"

Nodding, the cop replied "Hodges"

"Don't be an ass, David!" said a skinny brunette who was sitting at the table "Welcome, I'm Wendy, if you need anything, just ask"

"Thanks"

"Same here. I'm Mandy by the way"

"Nice to meet you" said Robbie shaking the other brunette's hand.

"Yea, ignore him, he's always like that. I'm Archie"

"Hey"

"And I'm Bobby, welcome aboard, kid" said the Ballistics specialist.

"Thank you. Um, I look forwards to working with all of you"

All of a sudden, there seemed to be a wave of realisation. Something about his smile was awfly familiar and five light bulbs seemed to suddenly go on in the room

"Wait…your dad and Sara? You're Grissom's son?" asked Hodges

"Um…yea…"

"I heard something about that…" said Archie as he took in the obvious similarities.

"Too bad we didn't know Grissom when he was younger. If he looked anything like you, Sara would have had some serious competition…" said Mandy smiling at the boy while looking at Wendy who smiled and nodded in agreement. When she did, Robbie noticed out of the corner of his eye, Hodges looking angry and leaving the break room fuming almost as much as the cup of coffee he was carrying.

"Er…"

"Ok, ok… stop embarrassing the kid" said Brass giving him a slight push towards the group "since Greg is here, I'll leave you in his capable hands and go back to my office, Greg, don't go easy on him. He's a Grissom, he'd probably resent you for it and Robbie, if you have any questions, just call me"

"Ok, thanks Jim!"

"So…Robbie, what's your full name?" asked Mandy

"Robert Rhett Grissom…why?"

"'Coz 'Robbie' is too much like 'Bobby'. It could get confusing" explained Wendy.

"Oh...um, ok"

Looking at him, Mandy asked "Rhett like Rhett Butler in 'Gone with the Wind'?"

"Er, yea"

Smiling at Wendy, Mandy stood up and Wendy quickly followed.

"See 'ya around, Rhett" said Wendy as they left the room and Robbie blushed.

"Hem… Well, now that awquardness is over with, how's about we get to work? I don't think your father would approve of slacking off on the job…" said Greg leading his new colleague towards the trace lab where Hodges was working in a corner.

"No, he wouldn't" said Robbie following him happy to be getting down to work.

_**TBC**_

* * *

_Please don't forget to review, it's the only thing keeping me afloat on the sea of homework surrounding me (that was rather poetic…)_

_Thanks ;) CJS-DEPPendent_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N:**__ SORRY for the HUGE delay in posting, but see, ever time I try to start writing on this I either feel guilty because I'm not studying or I come up with a whole new story that blocks out all the ideas I have for this one until I write them down._

_**A/N:**__ Since it's been a long time, I could really use some nice reviews to help me along…hint hint…_

_Enjoy!_

* * *

After dropping their kids off at home, Gil and Sara headed for work wanting to arrive there in time to see Robbie in action. As they arrived, it wasn't difficult to locate the young man.

The laughter coming from the DNA lab was loud enough for them to hear at the entrance and, when they arrived there, what they found made them smile. Robbie was in the centre of a semi-circle telling his new colleagues something that had them doubling over in laughter.

"Griss! Your son is killing us here! Kid has a great sense of humour…you sure he's yours?" asked Greg patting his new best friend on the back and causing more laughter to erupt from the group.

"Hey Sara, do you know if your husband looked this good when he was younger? Is that what happened? You saw a picture of him and fell in love?" asked Wendy as Mandy smiled at the blue eyed boy.

"Er…no" said Sara looking at her husband who couldn't help smiling at how well his son fit in with a group of geeks.

_Definitely a chip of the old block_ he thought.

"Anyway…" said Robbie as the laughter finally died down "I have to go pick up my girl in about 20 minutes so I'd better hurry. See y'all tomorrow"

"Sea ya!" they all called back as Mandy added "…Rhett"

* * *

Once out of the lab. Robbie turned to his dad and smiling said, "Thank you for this. I never thought it'd be this great. See you later"

Smiling and nodding, Gil watched his son leave as he and Sara parted ways, he for his office, she for the locker room.

* * *

In the entrance to the crime lab, Robbie was surprised to find two women, mother and daughter to be exact, that he knew.

"You can drive it but be careful" said Catherine as her daughter took the keys to her car and smiled.

"I'm always careful, mom" she said smiling her most angelic smile.

Suddenly, Robbie felt his face morph into a huge, probably sheepish grin as he saw the mischievous sparkle in the blond teen's eyes.

And then she spotted him.

"Robbie! What are you doing here?" she asked turning away from her mom to look at the boy she was so attracted to.

"Um…I got a job here, I'm working swing shift in the labs, helping out with tests, etc. What are you doing here?"

"I'm begging my mother to let be drive her car to my friend's house; which is only a couple blocks away" she added looking at her mother to emphasise her point.

"Well, I'd give you a ride, but I'm running kinda late, so I'm gonna go but, listen to your mom and be careful. Next time I see you, I'd like you to be in one piece" he added smiling at her as she blushed slightly.

After saying goodbye to Catherine whom to him and much to her annoyance, was Miss Willows he hugged Lindsey and, it would have been a very simple thing, had he not spotted a certain black SUV parked outside the door; an SUV driven by none other than his girlfriend, Stephanie.

"Well, erm, bye" he finally said before heading out to smooth things over with his girlfriend.

* * *

"Hey, baby" said Robbie upon entering the car.

"Hi" replied Stephanie looking out the window.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked knowing perfectly well that she was throwing yet another of her jealousy fits.

"I dunno, why don't you ask Lindsey?"

"Oh, come on, Stef. You know she and I are just friends, you're the only one I love…" he said trying to count just how many times he'd had to use that line to smooth things over with her in the year they'd been together.

"Sure, Robbie. I came here to surprise you and all I get is to see you pawing another girl. So can you just tell me where we're going so I can drive?" she asked still looking pissed.

"Um, ok. We're going to "The Great Wall". I know how much you love Chinese, so I made reservations.

Smiling, he saw her turn around and a smile beginning to creep on her face; as sure sign he was scoring points.

"How'd you know I was here anyway?" he asked suddenly curious

"I called your house and your step mom told me"

It was the first time anyone had referred to Sara as his step mom but Robbie liked the sound of it. Even though she was only a step mom, Robbie was sure she wouldn't bail on him like his own mother had and smiled as he thought of how Sara had accepted him into her home and her husband's life without questions and how she treated him just like he was her own son, except of course, she didn't need to tuck him in at night like she did Colin.

"How do you like her?" he asked referring to Sara

"Who? Sara? … She's cool, you know, I wouldn't have picked her for the 'mommy type', but hey, even the strangest people end up having kids…right?"

Robbie wasn't sure what to make of that but, knowing Stephanie, he was sure some kind of explanation would be coming.

As he continued his thoughts in the silence that had filled the SUV, they arrived at Stephanie's favourite restaurant and, after parking, entered it.

* * *

After handing out assignments, Gil proceeded to exit the building with Greg who would be working with him on a 419 in the desert while Sara left with Catherine and Nick to a multiple casualty accident on highway 15. Warrick, much to his annoyance, stayed behind to finish what, according to Grissom, amounted to a month's worth of paperwork.

"You chose?" asked Mrs. Ching who owned the restaurant with her husband.

"Oh…" said Robbie looking up from Stephanie whom he'd been smiling at "yea, it's two spring rolls, and a plate of Chow Mein and one of Chop Suey please" he said as the woman nodded and then walked away.

"So…" he said looking back at the blond in front of him "you wanted to tell me something earlier today…so, shoot"

"Er…" said Stephanie not 100 percent sure as to how to tell him "I…uh…"

_Ring_

"Oh…uh, sorry…let me just…" he checked the display "it's the lab…I should take this…" once Stephanie nodded, he proceeded to answer the phone.

"_Robbie?"_ came Greg's voice on the other end.

"Hey! How you doing?"

"_I'm good, look, I was thinking, tomorrow after shift, you want to get something to drink, maybe grab a burger somewhere?"_

"uh…yea, sure. But, look, I'll talk to you later ok? I'm kind of in the middle of something here…" he said looking back to Stephanie who merely smiled.

"_Oh…you're with Stephanie…I get it…"_ said Greg obviously implying something

"Greg! No, it's not…"

"_don't let me keep you…I'll call later…"_ with that he clicked off and Robbie, after shrugging at the phone, put it away and turned back to Stephanie "I'm sorry. You were saying?"

"I, Robbie…I, what I need to say, is…"

Realising how hesitant his girlfriend was, Robbie took her hand and said "hey, you can tell me anything you know that, right?"

Sighing, she looked around and decided to just say it in one go "Robbie…I'm…I'm pregnant"

Silence.

Blinking.

Robbie shook his head as if he was trying to wake up "you're…you're _what_?"

Sighing again, she repeated "I'm pregnant" it was easier to say it the second time.

"But…we were always…I don't…how…"

"Ah…um…my guess? That night at Chris'…"

"Ah…" _I'm so screwed! _"Well…then that's…"

"Almost two months ago…yes…I didn't think anything of it until a couple nights at your place…" she still looked very uneasy.

"Well…uh…that does explain a lot actually…" he said thinking of how he'd been curious as to why she'd left so suddenly and there had been some signs throughout the last months, he'd just chosen no to read anything into them.

"Robbie? Uh…how do you…I mean….what are you thinking?" she asked

"Oh…uh…I'm a bit overwhelmed…I mean I've known for all of two minutes and I've no idea what to say, what to think…I…how do you feel about it?" he asked

"I…I want to have it…him…her…I, I couldn't…"

"Good, 'coz that's not what I want…or would ever want!" finally seeing a smile creeping on her face, he said "Hey, it'll be ok…ok?"

Nodding, she looked up as Mrs. Ching arrived with their spring rolls and drinks.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Well Robbie's in a strange situation all of a sudden isn't he? __Please review to tell me what you think, I'll try to update as soon as possible…but that might not be for a while…_

_Please Review,_

_CJS-DEPPendent_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N:**__ Sorry it's been soooooo long! I've been trying to write, I really have but I either have a lot of homework and studying to do, or I0m suffering from huge writer's block… I promise to try and update soon._

_**A/N:**__ I could really use some nice reviews to help me along, if you get my hint … _

_Enjoy!_

* * *

On the drive home, the two students were quiet; each lost deep in thought.

"uh…Robbie? We're here…" said Stephanie as she parked outside the Grissom's home.

"Oh, uh, thanks. You want to come inside?" asked Robbie unsure as to what to do.

"Um…I…I really should get going...I have an exam tomorrow so…"

"Oh yea, uh, well if you need anything, call me, my cell will be on…anything" he kissed her gently on the lips "ok?"

Smiling she nodded "Ok…"

* * *

"Honey?" called Sara at her husband's office door after shift.

"Yea?" he almost whispered from the inside.

"Uh…Greg told me you'd be in here…" she stepped in slowly closing the door behind her to keep the room as dark as possible.

"Yea…I…it's the same guy Sara! She was 10. How could he…I…and we can't find him!"

"Hey…" soothed Sara crouching next to him as he lay on the couch "you'll get him, and when you do, he'll get what's coming to him"

"But until we do…he's out there and he's escalating…this time…I…the girl…I couldn't help thinking…if…"

Knowing what her husband was thinking, Sara cut in, "Gil…Charlie's safe, we'd never let anything happen to her, Robbie's with her all night long and we're with her during the day…"

"I just….she's a child, Sara… and so were these….uh…"

"Let's go home, Gil…come on…I told Catherine I was taking you home early, she'll make sure everything gets done. Come on"

After a short nod, Gil got up and, taking his wife's hand and wincing at the pain in his head, followed her out to their car.

* * *

Considering it was four in the morning, it wasn't much of a surprise that the house was completely quiet. So, not wanting to wake anyone, Gil and Sara grabbed something quick to eat and went straight to bed where they fell asleep in each other's arms.

It wasn't until 7:30 that Sara was forced to get up by her son's call from the door.

"Shh, Colin. Let Daddy sleep" she said picking him up and walking downstairs to the kitchen.

* * *

In the Kitchen, Sara fixed her 4 year old son some breakfast and sat down next to him.

"Mommy?" asked the boy looking up at Sara

"Yea?"

"Can I have some of the good cereal?" he asked looking at his bowl of cornflakes "you know, the ones that taste good? Please…"

Sara knew how much her son hated the healthy ones she had bought and, feeling sorry for the boy's pleading eyes, gave in. After all, she was a bit of a health freak.

"Ok…but just this once…" she replied reaching for the Cheerios.

As she poured the ring-shaped breakfast for her son, Sara saw Robbie enter the kitchen looking incredibly sleepy.

"Morning" he said rubbing and eye

"morning" replied Sara smiling as she looked at the clock on the wall "hey, you're usually up earlier. Are you not going to school today?" she asked.

"Oh…uh…I'm going in later, I have to talk to my Dad first… Actually, could you be there too?" he asked

"Uh…sure, if Gil doesn't mind…"

"It's just…I may need someone to calm him down…"

"Uh…should I be worried?"

Not wanting to lie, Robbie simply replied "We'll talk about it later, ok?"

With that, and with a banana in his hand, he left back to his room after passing a hand through his little brother's hair.

It was only two hours later that Gil finally walked into the living room. The kids had long since been taken to school by Sara who was now sitting on the couch reading one of her favourite books.

"Hey honey" she said looking up at her husband.

"Morning" he said smiling at her as he walked into the kitchen to get some coffee.

Once he had showered and gotten dressed, he met Sara back in the living room where Robbie was now also waiting.

"Uh…dad…" he said thinking of how to break the news "I…uh…have something to tell you and Sara…uh"

Looking at his wife who shrugged, Gil said "ok…"

"Well…you know I've been going out with Stephanie for a while and we're pretty serious…and…uh…well…"

Feeling nervous, Sara asked "what is it?"

"Uh…last night, I took Stephanie out to dinner and…uh…she told me she had something to tell me…I…um…dad, Stephanie's pregnant…."

Silence.

About thirty seconds later, Gil finally looked to Sara who looked just as shocked.

"um…I…How could…"

Noticing the first signs of anger from her husband, Sara tried to calm him down.

"Gil…"

"How could you be so irresponsible?!" he asked his son

"I…"

"I thought you were different to all those punks out there. I thought you knew what you wanted! You have a brilliant future ahead of you and you ruin it like this?"

"Ruin it?! I didn't ruin anything! Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't see having a child as a bad thing! Sure, I'm going to have to adjust, but I'm going to keep going on my path! I can't believe you!"

"You can't believe me? You want me to support you? You want me to support you being irresponsible? You're 18, Robbie! You're not old enough to be anyone's father!"

"I don't need to hear this! I'm an adult…"

"By law! Doesn't mean you actually are one! I thought you were, but apparently you aren't!"

Disregarding the last thin his father had said, Robbie continued "I'm an adult and don't need to take this! I'm leaving!"

"Where are you going?" asked Sara who had been sitting on that couch, silently while the two men shouted.

"School!"

With that, he left and slammed the door.

"Can you believe him?" asked Gil looking back at his wife "I can't…"

"Gil, there's no point getting mad over this. You can't do anything. I agree that he was irresponsible, but as his dad, the only thing you can do is be supportive" she said in a calm tone that Gil found slightly annoying.

"I'm not angry!" he almost shouted "I'm disappointed! He had such a bright future!"

"and you heard him… he's going to keep studying. If it were any other boy, I wouldn't believe him, but I believe Robbie will manage"

"I just…"

As she saw her husband resign, Sara smiled and asked "where's your pulse at now?"

Smiling back, Gil replied "I just want what's best for him"

"Then support him, Gil" she said.

When he took a deep breath and nodded, she kissed him lightly on the lips and suggested they go for a walk.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Well, Robbie really is in a sticky situation :P ... __I'll try to post the next chapter as soon as I possibly can. _

_Please Review,_

_CJS-DEPPendent_


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N:**__ Again, I'm so sorry for the huge wait. I've just been so busy in school with tests and stuff I've been completely blocked of ideas. I really do promise to try and post sooner from now on._

_**A/N**__**2:**_ _As usual I could really use some nice reviews from you all. After all, it's the reviews that keep me going. _

_**A/N3:**__ I wrote this chapter while I was sick at home today. So if something doesn't seem quite right, blame it on how sleepy I feel. But I've checked and re-checked it, so I hope it reads ok._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Robbie couldn't get his argument with Gil out of his head. Even though he'd only lived with them for a while, Robbie didn't want to loose the family he'd gained, and, truth be told, he didn't know his father well enough to know how he'd react to the situation.

After having gotten the baby news off her chest, Stephanie didn't distance herself from Robbie like she had before and even their friends noticed the difference. By the time he got back to the lab, Robbie felt confident that what he had told his dad about having a baby not being a bad thing would really turn out to be true.

"Hey Rhett…" said Mandy as she saw her favourite rooky walk through the door

"Evening, Mandy" he replied smiling as he walked into the trace lab where Greg was in a heated argument with Hodges

"They are my files, don't move them!" said Greg waving three files in his hand

"They were on my work space, besides, your stuff belongs in DNA, not trace…"

"This is a special case, Grissom asked me to run it through trace since I was already here and he needs the results ASAP. All I'm asking is that you don't move my things, Hodges, it's not a difficult request"

Looking annoyed, Hodges simply walked out of the lab as Greg spotted Robbie.

"How's it going?" he asked

"Meh…" sighed Robbie "we still on for coffee tonight? I need to vent"

"Yea, 'course…but is everything ok?"

"Yea, I just had an argument with my dad and I need to get some stuff off my chest"

"Ah, and argument with the boss man, sure, I'll listen to you…"

"Thanks, man" changing the topic, Robbie continued "what's up with Hodges tonight?"

"Eh, he's been acting weird for a while. Between you and me, he always acted strangely, but I dunno, recently, he's suffering from severe mood swings"

Through the glass, the two watched as Hodges poured himself some coffee in the break room looking grumpy. Then, sensing someone else in the room, he turned and spotted Wendy. Out of nowhere a huge smile erupted on his face and the two scientists in the trace lab spoke a simultaneous "ah…"

"…and there's the reason for those mood swings…" said Greg looking at how Wendy seemed to be shouting at Hodges and he still had the goofy smile on his face.

"Yea…what are the chances Wendy will ever go out with him?" asked Robbie

"Slim to none?" suggested Greg as Wendy left the break room and Hodges looked after her

"Poor guy…" said Robbie as he turned to the microscope to his right and began work.

* * *

At the end of shift, Robbie found himself alone in the locker room waiting for Greg. Outside, he could hear the various members of night shift arriving. First Catherine and Warrick, then Nick and finally, he heard his father's voice as he greeted his team. Not wanting to have to confront him again in front of the team, Robbie paged Greg to meet him in the car park and headed out.

Five minutes later, the spiky haired CSI joined him.

"Hey, Robbie!" called Greg approaching his friend.

"Hey"

"So where're we going? I have to be back in 20. Your dad is only giving me the break so I could eat something then I have a 419 to help out with"

"Um…ok, Tony's?"

"Sure, they have pretty decent burgers. Come on"

* * *

'Tony's' was a small restaurant not too far from the lab which was mainly frequented by PD staff and CSI's.

"What can I getcha?" asked the waiter as the two scientists sat down.

"Uh, cheeseburger with everything" said Greg before looking at Robbie

"Make that two" said the younger man taking.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?" asked Greg ready to lend his friend a ear.

"Uh…well…last night after I left work, Stephanie picked me up and we went out for dinner"

"Yea I know. I called you remember? You said you were '_busy_'" said Greg making air quotes at the last word

"Yea…I was _busy_. But not in the way you're insinuating"

Registering his friend's serious tone, Greg asked "what happened? Did you two break up?"

Sighing, Robbie continued "No. Uh… She told me… she told me she was pregnant…"

Silence

"Wow…uh…" was all Greg could say as the Burgers appeared in front of them.

"Yea that was pretty much my reaction"

"And you're sure it's yours?" asked the Greg

Looking a bit upset at the insinuation, Robbie replied "yea I'm sure! Steph is a stand up girl!"

"Ok, sorry. It's just, you know, it has to be asked"

Taking a couple of fries from his plate, Robbie continued "We talked it out and she's having the baby. And I'm gonna be there for her 100"

"Well, in that case, congratulations man. I'd buy you a drink but you're only 18 so a pat on the back will have to do" said Greg reaching over and patting his friend's shoulder.

Since Greg had to be back at the lab shortly, the rest of dinner was filled with a short hand version of the argument with Grissom and soon Robbie was on his way home and Greg was back at the lab.

* * *

"Greg!" called Grissom as he saw the youngest CSI approach

"Yea boss?" he asked spinning on his heals

"Let's go, come on!"

"Ok…" noting the tension lines on Grissom's face, Greg chose to obey and talk later.

* * *

In the car, Grissom started to find it weird that Greg hadn't even asked to play his music and so, being the intelligent man he was, put two and two together and figured the young man knew.

"Ok…Greg, I know you know. Stop acting like that, it's annoying" said Grissom, his eyes still on the road ahead of him.

"Uh…ok, boss"

Silence

It wasn't until five minutes later that Greg, who'd been fighting a battle with himself spoke

"Look, Grissom, I know you probably don't want to hear this and you probably don't want to hear it from me either but someone has to say it…"

"Greg, I've already heard it from Sara, when I'm ready to calm down I will. Until then, leave me alone…" he said still not moving his eyes from the road.

Again Greg had a waging battle in his head '_do I press on and risk being kicked out of the car and having to walk what would be three hours by car or do I shut up and not help my friend?_' normally, Greg would have taken the second option, after all it would be a lot of walking to get to the crime scene. But this time, he didn't.

"Look, Grissom. You can say all you want, you can be disappointed in Robbie all you want. But look, I've gotten to know him since he moved in with you and he's a stand up guy. One of the few guys I think are genuinely as nice as they seem. He has a promising future and I'm sure he won't give up on it no matter what. But you've gotta give him a break. He made a mistake. But he's owning up to it and taking responsibility. _You_ should understand"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" asked Grissom suddenly turning to face his CSI

Surprisingly not shaken by his boss' death glare, Greg explained "only that you made the same mistake Robbie did 18 years ago"

When Grissom didn't reply and merely stared forwards as a vein in his neck became more and more obvious, Greg continued with new found confidence "look, I'm sure, knowing you as I do, that if you had known about Robbie when you got his mom pregnant, you would have stuck with him and been there for him. And I'm sure you still would have done everything you could for your career. You're just that kind of guy. So why shouldn't Robbie, who more and more seems to be a perfect chip of the ol' block, make it too? Huh? Why do you not trust your son?"

When Grissom didn't speak, Greg turned to him and, noticing the anger plastered on his face, chose to stop talking. With his iPod plugged in and the desert scenery to observe, the young CSI managed to occupy himself for the remaining hours of the trip and, once at the crime scene, managed to avoid Grissom, reporting instead to Catherine who'd arrived a while earlier.

Hours later, when the team began to head back to CSI, Greg found himself in a confined space with his boss again. Now feeling a bit unnerved by the icy silence, Greg realised he should probably try and smooth things over with him. After all, if there was someone who knew how to hide a body, it was Gil Grissom.

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't…"

"No. You probably shouldn't have said those things, it's really none of your business" when Grissom saw the look on Greg's face, he continued with a sigh "but you were right. I did the same thing Robbie did. Worse, actually, I didn't love his mom and he loves Stephanie. I shouldn't have lost it like that. I know he'll do great and I know he won't give up, it's just…" he sighed again "…it's just he's a kid, I can't help but think if it took me this long to be a good father and husband, how is he going to do it at 18? Especially considering he grew up without a father figure?"

Relieved that Grissom wasn't going to strange him, Greg replied "by being everything he wished he'd had and by copying what you've been to Charlie, Colin and him"

Suddenly feeling a lot of respect for Greg, Grissom smiled. When they got back to CSI, Grissom stopped the car and, once outside, turned back to Greg.

"Greg…"

"Yea?"

"Thank you. Thank you for the talk. I, I needed it…"

"Any time boss" said Greg smiling widely and feeling more confident than ever.

Noticing this, Grissom smiled to himself and went inside to find his wife so they could go home where he hoped to talk to Robbie before he left for school.

* * *

_**TBC**_

_Well that was a new side for Greg, huh? _

_I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I hope to post chapter 16 soon. Please leave a review and tell me what you think, it really is what keeps me going. _

_Thanks for reading,_

_CJS-DEPPendent_


End file.
